SPN...meh.
Okay, I'm admitting it: I didn't particularly like this one. "Filler Ep" with a capital FILL.
Not a rant, more of a grumble
I liked the premise. I just don't think they really went anywhere with it. It was aalllllll set-up for "Dean/the boys wish their lives could be that simple"...and that statement was about the extent of the denouement. Anvilicious...without the delicious.
Really, I'm disappointed in the use of the shapeshifter. On both previous occasions the boys have encountered one, it's been smart, ruthless, and resulted in a major, major episode of the show. This? Was raw filler, and sure filler may be necessary, but I'd like mine well-done, thank you. This shifter was, as Dean put it, Buckets of Crazy, and said crazy was ridiculously improbable. If ze could function well enough in society to become Jamie's fellow bartender, there's no reason for hir to "embrace the movies," classic horror or otherwise. Frankly, it would have been cooler if the shifter HAD done The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and revealed they can grow gills, as well as fangs and wolf hair. (Although actually, the wolf hair is interesting. The previous shifters we've seen mimic other people...this one was making stuff up out of whole cloth. Did it encounter a wolf at some point, so it could mimic the fur? In a zoo, maybe? See, I find all the "science" and mystic "rules" of Supernatural's setting more interesting than anvilicious plot points, geeze.)
And maybe I'm slow, but the cinematography kept presenting us with Lucy's lipstick blotting, and somehow that led Sam to conclude she was the shifter? And to her front door? Bweh? (And Sam's entering her house scene pissed me the fuck off. Sam's so good at picking locks, he can do it in SECONDS, and the bolt doesn't even turn! Oh, wait, maybe that's it. The door was actually still unlucked from admitting the pizza guy. Sam only had to poke the probe in to discover this, then just opened the door. And don't get me started on the sound FX editing, "Sam Is Cocking His Gun Now," yeesh. My bro said "Yeah, well the whole thing was cheesy. It was on purpose." If that bit of trash was on purpose, then the crew is shattering the fourth wall in horrible fashion. Making fun of themselves in "Hollywood Babylon" works, deliberately failing at physical reality in a setting where the audience has to question how the show's reality functions in the first place is just STUPID.)
And apparently Octoberfest serves mighty good brew. Both witnesses seemed to be addicted, and not particularly distraught, especially considering Ricky the Horndog was slaughtered right in front of Whatshername. (Of course, if she was buying the drivel Ricky was spewing, she may be a dull enough tack that excess beer wouldn't make much of a difference. Bah. Maybe all of that was More Cheese? Like Ed's keyboard? Fail, Show, FAIL.)
I dunno. I kinda liked Lucy's Basement of Cheap Props, the fact that Sam went right through the wall the Shifter threw him into, etc. That bit of the MotW's "embracing the movies" worked. We were shown the prop store's tags twice; if we'd been shown (even in after the fact dialog) that Sam had tracked Lucy's address down through the store's records or somesuch, that would've been something. But to me, this ep was just kinda all over and didn't really accomplish anything. It tried, but it fell flat, or it did to me, anyway. I would have been much more interested in Dean confronting Sam about the extent of his unvoiced knowledge and Sam coming clean about Azazel's revelations in Cold Oak. Hey, he still hasn't told Dean about the research he did into Mary's family and associates, all being dead, and Ruby revealed that all the way back in 3.02! So, Castiel worrying over Azazel's endgame is a legitimate concern, nicely set-up last season. But somehow I don't think the good ol' YED was all that interested in setting Lucifer free; he seemed a bit too self-serving for that. Then again, Kasey seemed like a true believer, and she claimed to be interested in following Sam under Azazel's plan...
..and oh gee, look at me ramble off on mytharc tangents BECAUSE THIS EPISODE HAD SQUAT TO DO WITH DOODLEY. I have nothing against filler eps, in fact I agree the show would get too dark and depressing and woobie-wangsty if it was focused on the overall arc every episode...but sidestepping away from the arc in the fifth ep when it's still being set up for the season, when the previous eps have left us dangling and issues directly between the boys unresolved...the whole damn thing is off the point, and that upsets me. Filler ep, and the comedy ep, should occur later in the season.
But ah well. Next week's preview makes it look like some focus is being applied. I shall await it all the more fervently, since this week did hardly a damned thing to abate my desire for Winchester fulfillment. Okay, maybe that was a little ranty...
Not a rant, more of a grumble
I liked the premise. I just don't think they really went anywhere with it. It was aalllllll set-up for "Dean/the boys wish their lives could be that simple"...and that statement was about the extent of the denouement. Anvilicious...without the delicious.
Really, I'm disappointed in the use of the shapeshifter. On both previous occasions the boys have encountered one, it's been smart, ruthless, and resulted in a major, major episode of the show. This? Was raw filler, and sure filler may be necessary, but I'd like mine well-done, thank you. This shifter was, as Dean put it, Buckets of Crazy, and said crazy was ridiculously improbable. If ze could function well enough in society to become Jamie's fellow bartender, there's no reason for hir to "embrace the movies," classic horror or otherwise. Frankly, it would have been cooler if the shifter HAD done The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and revealed they can grow gills, as well as fangs and wolf hair. (Although actually, the wolf hair is interesting. The previous shifters we've seen mimic other people...this one was making stuff up out of whole cloth. Did it encounter a wolf at some point, so it could mimic the fur? In a zoo, maybe? See, I find all the "science" and mystic "rules" of Supernatural's setting more interesting than anvilicious plot points, geeze.)
And maybe I'm slow, but the cinematography kept presenting us with Lucy's lipstick blotting, and somehow that led Sam to conclude she was the shifter? And to her front door? Bweh? (And Sam's entering her house scene pissed me the fuck off. Sam's so good at picking locks, he can do it in SECONDS, and the bolt doesn't even turn! Oh, wait, maybe that's it. The door was actually still unlucked from admitting the pizza guy. Sam only had to poke the probe in to discover this, then just opened the door. And don't get me started on the sound FX editing, "Sam Is Cocking His Gun Now," yeesh. My bro said "Yeah, well the whole thing was cheesy. It was on purpose." If that bit of trash was on purpose, then the crew is shattering the fourth wall in horrible fashion. Making fun of themselves in "Hollywood Babylon" works, deliberately failing at physical reality in a setting where the audience has to question how the show's reality functions in the first place is just STUPID.)
And apparently Octoberfest serves mighty good brew. Both witnesses seemed to be addicted, and not particularly distraught, especially considering Ricky the Horndog was slaughtered right in front of Whatshername. (Of course, if she was buying the drivel Ricky was spewing, she may be a dull enough tack that excess beer wouldn't make much of a difference. Bah. Maybe all of that was More Cheese? Like Ed's keyboard? Fail, Show, FAIL.)
I dunno. I kinda liked Lucy's Basement of Cheap Props, the fact that Sam went right through the wall the Shifter threw him into, etc. That bit of the MotW's "embracing the movies" worked. We were shown the prop store's tags twice; if we'd been shown (even in after the fact dialog) that Sam had tracked Lucy's address down through the store's records or somesuch, that would've been something. But to me, this ep was just kinda all over and didn't really accomplish anything. It tried, but it fell flat, or it did to me, anyway. I would have been much more interested in Dean confronting Sam about the extent of his unvoiced knowledge and Sam coming clean about Azazel's revelations in Cold Oak. Hey, he still hasn't told Dean about the research he did into Mary's family and associates, all being dead, and Ruby revealed that all the way back in 3.02! So, Castiel worrying over Azazel's endgame is a legitimate concern, nicely set-up last season. But somehow I don't think the good ol' YED was all that interested in setting Lucifer free; he seemed a bit too self-serving for that. Then again, Kasey seemed like a true believer, and she claimed to be interested in following Sam under Azazel's plan...
..and oh gee, look at me ramble off on mytharc tangents BECAUSE THIS EPISODE HAD SQUAT TO DO WITH DOODLEY. I have nothing against filler eps, in fact I agree the show would get too dark and depressing and woobie-wangsty if it was focused on the overall arc every episode...but sidestepping away from the arc in the fifth ep when it's still being set up for the season, when the previous eps have left us dangling and issues directly between the boys unresolved...the whole damn thing is off the point, and that upsets me. Filler ep, and the comedy ep, should occur later in the season.
But ah well. Next week's preview makes it look like some focus is being applied. I shall await it all the more fervently, since this week did hardly a damned thing to abate my desire for Winchester fulfillment. Okay, maybe that was a little ranty...