5x17, "99 Problems" episode review [tv, public post, spn, reaction]
All caught up! It'll take me a few days to type up all of my note for the previous episodes, but here is 5x17, in all of its glory. And dude, it was glorious. Watched it twice, filled up two A4 pages and a bit. And then went crazy with the meta. Whoops.
Supernatural 5x17, "99 Problems":
Background:
About halfway through the episode I noticed that there was no mention of Dean's necklace. This comes first because it's the least loaded subject that was raised this week. It wasn't in the 'Then' section, nor in the 'Now' section, nor anytime else.
Before I say anything about the episode itself, has anybody noticed how similar it was to 5x04 {"The End"}, 5x10 {"Abandon All Hope..."}, 4x06 {"Yellow Fever"}, and the entirety of the third season?
"99 Problems" is the culmination of very gradual buildup. The third season had Dean dying throughout, much like he thinks happens now, and how he cracks under the stress while Sam keeps saying that everything will be alright, that they'll find a way, that Dean won't go to Hell. Yeah. Right. And how did that end? obsessive!Sam, inHell!Dean. Yeah, that would make Dean real confident about their chances now.
"Yellow Fever" is the first time post-Hell that Dean cracks. And what did Dean do when he cracked? He ran away. {And then got chased by a chihuahua or something, but that's another story.} YF set the precedent to what happened in 99P: When Dean's scared, he cracks. When Dean cracks, he runs away.
In "The End" we saw future!Dean leading a local militia fighting the Croatoan-infected. We see the final battle, Dean vs. Lucifer, where Dean dies. canon!Dean practically sees Sam killing himself. Most importantly, canon!Dean's conversation with future!Dean and future!Castiel about the angels leaving, and the scenery ain't pretty.
{Less importantly, we see what happens to Castiel when he loses faith. We see the start of that in 99P.}
"Abandon All Hope..."? Town's completely cut off from civilisation. No connection anywhere. Town's locals group together to kill demons, and it ends with Ellen and Jo sacrificing themselves. Dean fails to kill Lucifer with the Colt.
I want to give 5x14 {"My Bloody Valentine"} an honorary mention, and say that it's a shame they aired it before "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", because that would make better continuity, because Dean wasn't as unaffected as Castiel and Famine noted. Dean didn't eat, didn't drink, didn't go our for sex -- I'd bet he didn't sleep either. That's not 'unaffected'. That's pretty much clinical depression. We all know how misery loves company, and what do the depressed hunger for? Oblivion.
Later:
Sounds familiar? In "99 Problems" there's a local organised militia, in a town that's cut off from the world, they're overwhelmed by demons, and Dean's sure everybody's going to die within 2 months tops. God's missing, and what the hell are they going to do?
Explains some things about the way the episode went, doesn't it?
Now:
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I mean, I got 2 A4 pages {and a bit!} that I haven't even started typing yet. {I didn't bother with paragraphs. Heck, I didn't even bother with LINEBREAKS. Sigh.}
So. I squeed pretty hard at the Then part, because I LOVE THE BRAEDENS. I LOVED Ben, and I really liked Lisa back in season 3.
The episode starts with Sam and Dean RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVEZ again -- from nothing? No car chase? Boys go as fast as they can because of demons that are stuck in meatsuits and meatsuits' legs? Lame, Show. Lame.
Then they got saved by a Lutheran militia. Ok. WHUT. {Sam and Dean's faces when they got told that IT IS THE APOCALYPSE SORRY TO BREAK IT TO YOU were hilarious.} At first I went all 'hahah, which authority is going to believe a local Lutheran militia that the Apocalypse is coming?' It also got me sad, that people have started ORGANISING these local militias, that the Apocalypse is almost common knowledge now, because their whole lives the Winchesters have tried hiding the truth.
In hindsight I know that it's not the people themselves who did it all alone, but got helped by 'Leah', so I'm not as sad. But that raises the question of the townsfolks going along with it in the first place. People are adapting, and trust me, after what happened here, they'll be fighting the REAL Apocalypse.
The whole town looked very military. It was very surreal, and that was the moment I got my 5x04 flashes. There was a Devil's Trap at the entrance to the church, but did anybody else notice that there was enough place for one person to go without stepping on the Trap? I suppose that's how 'Leah' went in and out, if she ever did, just slithered very close to the fence.
{Group marriages. Half wanting to cry and half to laugh. I'm wondering if they're all getting married just so they could have sex before they die.}
Pastor Gideon called Sam&Dean 'Gentlemen'. Hahahahahaha.
Leah was . . . creepy, the way she talked about them being Sam and Dean Winchester and therefore safe. I've got to hand it to the actress, she was amazing. I don't know the fandom all that well yet, but I haven't seen much rooting for the one-episode characters, who usually have to fill undeveloped characters, make them sympathetic/evil, and sometimes change their whole attitude, or parts of it, within moments. Some one-time actors on the show failed, but some rocked. Like Leah's actress. She was AWESOME.
Anyway. There's a funny thing about prophets. People don't tend to believe them. They are ridiculed and despised. That's why they're there in the first place, really, to let people know they've gone Wrong. People don't like being heard they've been wrong, so they hate the prophets. That's one of the reasons Leah creeped me out -- she had the townsfolks eating out of her hand, and that's sort of common to false prophets. Just sayin'.
Sam. ♥ I haven't seen Sam this positive since, oh, mid-end of season 1? Definitely not from season 3 and on. He honestly thinks he and Dean {and Cas <3} can pull this off and save anybody. He's scared shitless, but he thinks that if they're together, they can find a way and pull it off. Dean's being a defeatist, as usual. Bah, Dean. Bah.
I loved the setup/premise of the episode. Sure, why not, stick Sam and Dean in a RELIGION-EXTREME town right after they get told that God doesn't give a damn. Very ironic. *pats Show*
That could go two ways, really. 1) It's a hint that they gave up their faith too quickly. 2) Plain, mocking irony. Personally I think it's a little bit of both, mostly because of what happens at the end. More, later. Duh.
When I first watched the episode, I went all 'Oooh, useful, short exorcism. Why didn't Cas teach it to them? It's so much quicker than Sam's demon!blood!exorcism!'. Well, considering how we find up later what it REALLY means {"It means 'Go breed with the mouth of a goat'." "..." "..." "..." "What? It's funnier in Enochian."}, I suppose it makes perfect sense why he didn't.
The whole Let's Kill Demons! battle was off. Whenever so many people die on screen and attack each other it means that something is wrong nobody is the monster. They're all victims. Croatoan episodes, Lucifer-raising-Death episode, that sort of thing. I'm not saying that there weren't real people in the humans that the group killed, but -- well. You know. That something was FISHY. And stinky. Fish-stinky.
Dean taking orders, during the skirmish? Yum. I always love it when Dean's the subordinate, and there's not nearly enough of that in the show.
WTF Show. There is no way that the demon could've cut Dylan's throat that quickly. Plz to be getting some timeline realism.
Of course that it would be Dean that would tell Jane he was sorry about Dylan, even though it's usually Sam's line. Because the writers needed Jane to blame Dean. This whole ep was Dean getting blow after blow after blow in order for him to give up. Or, like he's said once or twice before, monsters he can take. People? He doesn't get them. This whole guilt-tripping was obvious since the moment Dylan died, right after being told not to tell his mum about the beer. This was a cheap {but effective} way to let us know that he was practically a kid, and Dean loves kids, and he hates it when they die.
Pastor said: "I don't know why any of this is happening." Right with Sam and Dean in the church. Ouch. Yeah, crank up the guilt. They aren't feeling guilty enough. I'd call you 'dick', dear pastor, but I like you too much.
I WANT TO COMMEND THE SHOW FOR THE RUNNY MAKEUP WHEN THE WOMEN CRY. But if it keeps happening, I'll start facepalming and muttering that Show needs to stop putting eyeliner/mascara on women who are going to cry.
Ok. zombie!Dylan? We already know that zombies are bad news. Leah's getting creepier and creepier. And then Leah started nattering on about Paradise on Earth, and dude, we know that Heaven's creepy as fuck and kinda boring, and people are ALONE. {Unless you're soulmates. Like Sam and Dean. *snork*} So, yeah. Creepiness level, rising.
Naturally at the point the contact with the outside world disappears I go all *headdesk*, because HLO ABANDON ALL HOPE v.2: WITH RELIGION. All doubts I had about Leah at this point disappeared, and my notes are saying something like 'wtf is Leah for real?!'.
At the scene Sam told Dean he couldn't just roll over and give up, I wanted to either punch him or glomp him -- I was pretty torn. Because 1) Dean is unstable. 2) If anybody can shake Dean out of his funk, it's Sam. I mostly wanted to punch Sam. God.
Okay. Okay. Castiel. Castiel was sheer awesome here. He shows up! And attempts to raid the fridge. iLike. And then he admits to being drunk. Now where have we seen it before . . . oh, YES. 5x04! Druggy,-orgy,-drunk!Cas! But 2014's Castiel was at the end of the process, really, and canon!Cas is just at the beginning. {"I found a liquor store." "And?" "And I drank it."}
{Anybody notice the first Cas/Sam bonding scene? I've been waiting for one for a long, long time now. And Castiel's voicemail? WIN.}
. . . was anybody really surprised to learn that Leah wasn't a true prophet?
. . .
Yeah. Didn't think so.
Having Dean be at the scene of the Paul-killing is special. Usually it's the person who speaks with the witness who sees the witness die/get hurt, but the Show needed Dean to see the utter futility of trying. Like I said, this whole episode is about grinding Dean to dust. It's a shame, really; I liked Paul. {"If I go to Hell, I'm going honest."}
And, Dude, The Third Wave all over again. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and all. Creepy, creepy experiment. I watched the play when I was in elementary, and I still remember it as one of the most disturbing play/film/anythingartistic EVER.
Okay, enough with the chitchat and the scene-by-scene crap -- I'm boring myself. So. Leah is The Babylonian Whore. And only a true servant of Heaven can kill her.
ANYBODY NOTICED HOW, LATER, EVERYBODY CONVENIENTLY DROPPED THE WORD 'TRUE' FROM THE PHRASE? I bet that Sam could've killed the Whore. Cas too. Maybe Gabriel. Anna, before she got taken to Heaven. Zecharia? Hah. The Whore wouldn't have died, if it were Zecharia. It's obvious that Team Free Will have God's favour, which is why I think the symbolism of them going to Blue Earth is more than just irony and more about them finding their faith. I don't think Dean realised he'd be able to kill the Whore. Distract her, maybe, yeah, but kill her? No, I think it was utter surprise.
The point is, God's gone for a reason. I don't think it's because He doesn't care, I don't think it's because He wants the Apocalypse. For all I know, He's trying to purify Heaven and Hell, or something, or teach the angels something about free will and not being dicks. I don't think God wants either Sam or Dean to say 'Yes' to Michael and/or Lucifer. I mean, He got Sam and Dean on the plane away from Lucifer! Brought back Castiel! Didn't throw a fit when Gabriel left! I bet He didn't like their Sunday dinners either. I mean, both God and Gabriel left.
-- back to the episode!!
That whole 'holy crap, I'm a [true] servant of Heaven!' scared the fuck out of Dean. Because he isn't religious, he's not a believer, he keeps doubting, heck -- he calls the angels dicks and all of that. And he's going to die, and he can't take it anymore. The humans are losing, the demons are horrible and he experienced that first-hand in Hell -- the angels are dicks, thinks Dean, but they're better than the demons, or the humans being destroyed.
The trip to Lisa {Show, LOGIC, PLEASE. How did he find her new address, but not her phone number?!} was heartbreaking. Dean was in love with the idea of having a family. It's the most important thing to him ever.
I think he whispered something in Lisa's ear. I'm not sure, but it looked like it.
So I'm thinking that Dean's got a plan. Which involves him saying yes to Michael, but somehow assuring that Sam won't say yes to Lucifer, through Lisa.
Um. The end. This . . . got a little long. Sorry.
|Meduza|
Supernatural 5x17, "99 Problems":
Background:
About halfway through the episode I noticed that there was no mention of Dean's necklace. This comes first because it's the least loaded subject that was raised this week. It wasn't in the 'Then' section, nor in the 'Now' section, nor anytime else.
Before I say anything about the episode itself, has anybody noticed how similar it was to 5x04 {"The End"}, 5x10 {"Abandon All Hope..."}, 4x06 {"Yellow Fever"}, and the entirety of the third season?
"99 Problems" is the culmination of very gradual buildup. The third season had Dean dying throughout, much like he thinks happens now, and how he cracks under the stress while Sam keeps saying that everything will be alright, that they'll find a way, that Dean won't go to Hell. Yeah. Right. And how did that end? obsessive!Sam, inHell!Dean. Yeah, that would make Dean real confident about their chances now.
"Yellow Fever" is the first time post-Hell that Dean cracks. And what did Dean do when he cracked? He ran away. {And then got chased by a chihuahua or something, but that's another story.} YF set the precedent to what happened in 99P: When Dean's scared, he cracks. When Dean cracks, he runs away.
In "The End" we saw future!Dean leading a local militia fighting the Croatoan-infected. We see the final battle, Dean vs. Lucifer, where Dean dies. canon!Dean practically sees Sam killing himself. Most importantly, canon!Dean's conversation with future!Dean and future!Castiel about the angels leaving, and the scenery ain't pretty.
{Less importantly, we see what happens to Castiel when he loses faith. We see the start of that in 99P.}
"Abandon All Hope..."? Town's completely cut off from civilisation. No connection anywhere. Town's locals group together to kill demons, and it ends with Ellen and Jo sacrificing themselves. Dean fails to kill Lucifer with the Colt.
I want to give 5x14 {"My Bloody Valentine"} an honorary mention, and say that it's a shame they aired it before "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", because that would make better continuity, because Dean wasn't as unaffected as Castiel and Famine noted. Dean didn't eat, didn't drink, didn't go our for sex -- I'd bet he didn't sleep either. That's not 'unaffected'. That's pretty much clinical depression. We all know how misery loves company, and what do the depressed hunger for? Oblivion.
Later:
Sounds familiar? In "99 Problems" there's a local organised militia, in a town that's cut off from the world, they're overwhelmed by demons, and Dean's sure everybody's going to die within 2 months tops. God's missing, and what the hell are they going to do?
Explains some things about the way the episode went, doesn't it?
Now:
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I mean, I got 2 A4 pages {and a bit!} that I haven't even started typing yet. {I didn't bother with paragraphs. Heck, I didn't even bother with LINEBREAKS. Sigh.}
So. I squeed pretty hard at the Then part, because I LOVE THE BRAEDENS. I LOVED Ben, and I really liked Lisa back in season 3.
The episode starts with Sam and Dean RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVEZ again -- from nothing? No car chase? Boys go as fast as they can because of demons that are stuck in meatsuits and meatsuits' legs? Lame, Show. Lame.
Then they got saved by a Lutheran militia. Ok. WHUT. {Sam and Dean's faces when they got told that IT IS THE APOCALYPSE SORRY TO BREAK IT TO YOU were hilarious.} At first I went all 'hahah, which authority is going to believe a local Lutheran militia that the Apocalypse is coming?' It also got me sad, that people have started ORGANISING these local militias, that the Apocalypse is almost common knowledge now, because their whole lives the Winchesters have tried hiding the truth.
In hindsight I know that it's not the people themselves who did it all alone, but got helped by 'Leah', so I'm not as sad. But that raises the question of the townsfolks going along with it in the first place. People are adapting, and trust me, after what happened here, they'll be fighting the REAL Apocalypse.
The whole town looked very military. It was very surreal, and that was the moment I got my 5x04 flashes. There was a Devil's Trap at the entrance to the church, but did anybody else notice that there was enough place for one person to go without stepping on the Trap? I suppose that's how 'Leah' went in and out, if she ever did, just slithered very close to the fence.
{Group marriages. Half wanting to cry and half to laugh. I'm wondering if they're all getting married just so they could have sex before they die.}
Pastor Gideon called Sam&Dean 'Gentlemen'. Hahahahahaha.
Leah was . . . creepy, the way she talked about them being Sam and Dean Winchester and therefore safe. I've got to hand it to the actress, she was amazing. I don't know the fandom all that well yet, but I haven't seen much rooting for the one-episode characters, who usually have to fill undeveloped characters, make them sympathetic/evil, and sometimes change their whole attitude, or parts of it, within moments. Some one-time actors on the show failed, but some rocked. Like Leah's actress. She was AWESOME.
Anyway. There's a funny thing about prophets. People don't tend to believe them. They are ridiculed and despised. That's why they're there in the first place, really, to let people know they've gone Wrong. People don't like being heard they've been wrong, so they hate the prophets. That's one of the reasons Leah creeped me out -- she had the townsfolks eating out of her hand, and that's sort of common to false prophets. Just sayin'.
Sam. ♥ I haven't seen Sam this positive since, oh, mid-end of season 1? Definitely not from season 3 and on. He honestly thinks he and Dean {and Cas <3} can pull this off and save anybody. He's scared shitless, but he thinks that if they're together, they can find a way and pull it off. Dean's being a defeatist, as usual. Bah, Dean. Bah.
I loved the setup/premise of the episode. Sure, why not, stick Sam and Dean in a RELIGION-EXTREME town right after they get told that God doesn't give a damn. Very ironic. *pats Show*
That could go two ways, really. 1) It's a hint that they gave up their faith too quickly. 2) Plain, mocking irony. Personally I think it's a little bit of both, mostly because of what happens at the end. More, later. Duh.
When I first watched the episode, I went all 'Oooh, useful, short exorcism. Why didn't Cas teach it to them? It's so much quicker than Sam's demon!blood!exorcism!'. Well, considering how we find up later what it REALLY means {"It means 'Go breed with the mouth of a goat'." "..." "..." "..." "What? It's funnier in Enochian."}, I suppose it makes perfect sense why he didn't.
The whole Let's Kill Demons! battle was off. Whenever so many people die on screen and attack each other it means that something is wrong nobody is the monster. They're all victims. Croatoan episodes, Lucifer-raising-Death episode, that sort of thing. I'm not saying that there weren't real people in the humans that the group killed, but -- well. You know. That something was FISHY. And stinky. Fish-stinky.
Dean taking orders, during the skirmish? Yum. I always love it when Dean's the subordinate, and there's not nearly enough of that in the show.
WTF Show. There is no way that the demon could've cut Dylan's throat that quickly. Plz to be getting some timeline realism.
Of course that it would be Dean that would tell Jane he was sorry about Dylan, even though it's usually Sam's line. Because the writers needed Jane to blame Dean. This whole ep was Dean getting blow after blow after blow in order for him to give up. Or, like he's said once or twice before, monsters he can take. People? He doesn't get them. This whole guilt-tripping was obvious since the moment Dylan died, right after being told not to tell his mum about the beer. This was a cheap {but effective} way to let us know that he was practically a kid, and Dean loves kids, and he hates it when they die.
Pastor said: "I don't know why any of this is happening." Right with Sam and Dean in the church. Ouch. Yeah, crank up the guilt. They aren't feeling guilty enough. I'd call you 'dick', dear pastor, but I like you too much.
I WANT TO COMMEND THE SHOW FOR THE RUNNY MAKEUP WHEN THE WOMEN CRY. But if it keeps happening, I'll start facepalming and muttering that Show needs to stop putting eyeliner/mascara on women who are going to cry.
Ok. zombie!Dylan? We already know that zombies are bad news. Leah's getting creepier and creepier. And then Leah started nattering on about Paradise on Earth, and dude, we know that Heaven's creepy as fuck and kinda boring, and people are ALONE. {Unless you're soulmates. Like Sam and Dean. *snork*} So, yeah. Creepiness level, rising.
Naturally at the point the contact with the outside world disappears I go all *headdesk*, because HLO ABANDON ALL HOPE v.2: WITH RELIGION. All doubts I had about Leah at this point disappeared, and my notes are saying something like 'wtf is Leah for real?!'.
At the scene Sam told Dean he couldn't just roll over and give up, I wanted to either punch him or glomp him -- I was pretty torn. Because 1) Dean is unstable. 2) If anybody can shake Dean out of his funk, it's Sam. I mostly wanted to punch Sam. God.
Okay. Okay. Castiel. Castiel was sheer awesome here. He shows up! And attempts to raid the fridge. iLike. And then he admits to being drunk. Now where have we seen it before . . . oh, YES. 5x04! Druggy,-orgy,-drunk!Cas! But 2014's Castiel was at the end of the process, really, and canon!Cas is just at the beginning. {"I found a liquor store." "And?" "And I drank it."}
{Anybody notice the first Cas/Sam bonding scene? I've been waiting for one for a long, long time now. And Castiel's voicemail? WIN.}
. . . was anybody really surprised to learn that Leah wasn't a true prophet?
. . .
Yeah. Didn't think so.
Having Dean be at the scene of the Paul-killing is special. Usually it's the person who speaks with the witness who sees the witness die/get hurt, but the Show needed Dean to see the utter futility of trying. Like I said, this whole episode is about grinding Dean to dust. It's a shame, really; I liked Paul. {"If I go to Hell, I'm going honest."}
And, Dude, The Third Wave all over again. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions and all. Creepy, creepy experiment. I watched the play when I was in elementary, and I still remember it as one of the most disturbing play/film/anythingartistic EVER.
Okay, enough with the chitchat and the scene-by-scene crap -- I'm boring myself. So. Leah is The Babylonian Whore. And only a true servant of Heaven can kill her.
ANYBODY NOTICED HOW, LATER, EVERYBODY CONVENIENTLY DROPPED THE WORD 'TRUE' FROM THE PHRASE? I bet that Sam could've killed the Whore. Cas too. Maybe Gabriel. Anna, before she got taken to Heaven. Zecharia? Hah. The Whore wouldn't have died, if it were Zecharia. It's obvious that Team Free Will have God's favour, which is why I think the symbolism of them going to Blue Earth is more than just irony and more about them finding their faith. I don't think Dean realised he'd be able to kill the Whore. Distract her, maybe, yeah, but kill her? No, I think it was utter surprise.
The point is, God's gone for a reason. I don't think it's because He doesn't care, I don't think it's because He wants the Apocalypse. For all I know, He's trying to purify Heaven and Hell, or something, or teach the angels something about free will and not being dicks. I don't think God wants either Sam or Dean to say 'Yes' to Michael and/or Lucifer. I mean, He got Sam and Dean on the plane away from Lucifer! Brought back Castiel! Didn't throw a fit when Gabriel left! I bet He didn't like their Sunday dinners either. I mean, both God and Gabriel left.
-- back to the episode!!
That whole 'holy crap, I'm a [true] servant of Heaven!' scared the fuck out of Dean. Because he isn't religious, he's not a believer, he keeps doubting, heck -- he calls the angels dicks and all of that. And he's going to die, and he can't take it anymore. The humans are losing, the demons are horrible and he experienced that first-hand in Hell -- the angels are dicks, thinks Dean, but they're better than the demons, or the humans being destroyed.
The trip to Lisa {Show, LOGIC, PLEASE. How did he find her new address, but not her phone number?!} was heartbreaking. Dean was in love with the idea of having a family. It's the most important thing to him ever.
I think he whispered something in Lisa's ear. I'm not sure, but it looked like it.
So I'm thinking that Dean's got a plan. Which involves him saying yes to Michael, but somehow assuring that Sam won't say yes to Lucifer, through Lisa.
Um. The end. This . . . got a little long. Sorry.
|Meduza|