Supernatural: Third Man
I swear, I think this season just keeps getting more and more intriguing.
Things that appealed to my id
1. Oh, Sera Gamble, I knew when you became showrunner we'd get even more fanservice. Yeah, you can start every episode with Dean dreaming of having sweet, slow sex with Lisa and Sam doing shirtless exercises while paying off a hooker, and I don't think anyone's going to complain. Though more on this scene below.
2. Castiel saying he and Dean have a special bond was fun. Oh, boy, I haven't even been to any of the Dean/Castiel boards, but I bet the squee was heard round the world.
3. I enjoyed the fact that Castiel's social skills have regressed to his season 4 persona. I have a fondness for alien Cas, so that pleased me. Especially how he's missing all of Dean's pop culture references again (the second base thing, that almost degenerated into Abbott and Costello, which I almost typed "Cas"tello, particularly cracked me up, but I also liked him pointing out that the reason his social skills were rusty was because he'd spent the last year as a "multideminsional wavelength." Oh, and I also loved "I believe we can rule Moses out as a suspect." HEE!!!
4. The little bits of brotherly rivalry we got, like the 2 of them dissing each other's cars, or Dean racing Sam,were really fun.
5. I loved Dean ordering Cas to come when Sam calls. Like he was Cas' boyfriend or something.
6. Dean's had some very funny lines, especially "I was expecting something a little more Dr. No and a little less Liberace."
Things that appealed to higher parts of my brain
7. That opening scene did a really good job of contrasting where Dean and Sam are now. Dean's dreaming of intimacy; Sam's avoiding it at all costs. Sam's body has become a well-oiled machine; Dean is a little creaky. Sam's living for nothing but the investigation; Dean is still in communication with Ben and Lisa. (And I love that he can tell when Ben is lying because he's a professional liar!)
Some people said they thought the most disturbing thing about Sam, tonight, was his complicity in the torture of the teenager. That didn't bother me so much, though, because it is a continuation of the really sharp streak of pragmatism Sam exhibited as far back as season 4--I'm thinking of him lying to the little boy in "Death Takes a Holiday," for example, telling him he'll be able to stay with his family so he can manipulate the kid into doing what he wants. To me, much more disturbing was him paying for sex. This is the guy who's barely slept with anyone since Jess' death, and each time he did there was either a real emotional connection (Madison) or at least some semblance of one (the doctor in Sex and Violence). I know it's largely fanonical, but I really had the sense that one of the ways Sam has differentiated himself from Dean through his life was by only sleeping with women he could make a connection with--very few one night stands for him. Now he's deliberately foreclosing the possibility of intimacy by paying for sex.
8. I LOVE the heavenly civil war. I was wondering how on earth they could keep Castiel around as a regular without him turning human or turning deus ex machina, and this seems like the perfect solution to me--and so interesting. Balthazar is an intriguing character, and I also love the idea of Raphael battling to finish the apocalypse, because that is SO the Winchester life: they never really get to rest. The battle just moves to a new front.
9. I know I said I didn't want evil!Sam, and I still don't really, but I'm actually loving the Sam we're seeing--in some ways he's still Sam, but in other ways he's just WRONG, and I'm enjoying the mystery. And I love that we're getting brotherly talks by the Impala, just like in season 4, only with the roles reversed; I'm sure when we find out Sam's secret it too will be a doozy.
10. I couldn't actually watch most of the plague scenes (ewww!!!!)but I do love the idea of heavenly weapons gone astray ("your nukes are loose?"). That thing Balthazar used to turn Raphael's vessel to salt was AWESOME.
11. I also really like that even heaven doesn't know who raised Sam. (Oh Chuck, where are you these days?) The idea that there are players we don't yet know about is cool--I wonder if maybe we'll see the return of some of the other gods, like Kali?
12. Oh, this should have probably gone in my "id" section, but Dean's prayer to Cas just made me laugh and laugh. And you can deny it all you want, Cas, but you know you came because Dean called. (All the poor Sam/Cas fans, though, must be as dejected as poor Sam was).
13. I felt Sam losing his beuatiful new car with all the gas mileage was pure karma for not standing up with Dean against the torture of that poor kid.
14. So Castiel/Balthazar has probably already been written, right? Though I don't find Balthazar particularly sexually appealing, alas.
Things that appealed to my id
1. Oh, Sera Gamble, I knew when you became showrunner we'd get even more fanservice. Yeah, you can start every episode with Dean dreaming of having sweet, slow sex with Lisa and Sam doing shirtless exercises while paying off a hooker, and I don't think anyone's going to complain. Though more on this scene below.
2. Castiel saying he and Dean have a special bond was fun. Oh, boy, I haven't even been to any of the Dean/Castiel boards, but I bet the squee was heard round the world.
3. I enjoyed the fact that Castiel's social skills have regressed to his season 4 persona. I have a fondness for alien Cas, so that pleased me. Especially how he's missing all of Dean's pop culture references again (the second base thing, that almost degenerated into Abbott and Costello, which I almost typed "Cas"tello, particularly cracked me up, but I also liked him pointing out that the reason his social skills were rusty was because he'd spent the last year as a "multideminsional wavelength." Oh, and I also loved "I believe we can rule Moses out as a suspect." HEE!!!
4. The little bits of brotherly rivalry we got, like the 2 of them dissing each other's cars, or Dean racing Sam,were really fun.
5. I loved Dean ordering Cas to come when Sam calls. Like he was Cas' boyfriend or something.
6. Dean's had some very funny lines, especially "I was expecting something a little more Dr. No and a little less Liberace."
Things that appealed to higher parts of my brain
7. That opening scene did a really good job of contrasting where Dean and Sam are now. Dean's dreaming of intimacy; Sam's avoiding it at all costs. Sam's body has become a well-oiled machine; Dean is a little creaky. Sam's living for nothing but the investigation; Dean is still in communication with Ben and Lisa. (And I love that he can tell when Ben is lying because he's a professional liar!)
Some people said they thought the most disturbing thing about Sam, tonight, was his complicity in the torture of the teenager. That didn't bother me so much, though, because it is a continuation of the really sharp streak of pragmatism Sam exhibited as far back as season 4--I'm thinking of him lying to the little boy in "Death Takes a Holiday," for example, telling him he'll be able to stay with his family so he can manipulate the kid into doing what he wants. To me, much more disturbing was him paying for sex. This is the guy who's barely slept with anyone since Jess' death, and each time he did there was either a real emotional connection (Madison) or at least some semblance of one (the doctor in Sex and Violence). I know it's largely fanonical, but I really had the sense that one of the ways Sam has differentiated himself from Dean through his life was by only sleeping with women he could make a connection with--very few one night stands for him. Now he's deliberately foreclosing the possibility of intimacy by paying for sex.
8. I LOVE the heavenly civil war. I was wondering how on earth they could keep Castiel around as a regular without him turning human or turning deus ex machina, and this seems like the perfect solution to me--and so interesting. Balthazar is an intriguing character, and I also love the idea of Raphael battling to finish the apocalypse, because that is SO the Winchester life: they never really get to rest. The battle just moves to a new front.
9. I know I said I didn't want evil!Sam, and I still don't really, but I'm actually loving the Sam we're seeing--in some ways he's still Sam, but in other ways he's just WRONG, and I'm enjoying the mystery. And I love that we're getting brotherly talks by the Impala, just like in season 4, only with the roles reversed; I'm sure when we find out Sam's secret it too will be a doozy.
10. I couldn't actually watch most of the plague scenes (ewww!!!!)but I do love the idea of heavenly weapons gone astray ("your nukes are loose?"). That thing Balthazar used to turn Raphael's vessel to salt was AWESOME.
11. I also really like that even heaven doesn't know who raised Sam. (Oh Chuck, where are you these days?) The idea that there are players we don't yet know about is cool--I wonder if maybe we'll see the return of some of the other gods, like Kali?
12. Oh, this should have probably gone in my "id" section, but Dean's prayer to Cas just made me laugh and laugh. And you can deny it all you want, Cas, but you know you came because Dean called. (All the poor Sam/Cas fans, though, must be as dejected as poor Sam was).
13. I felt Sam losing his beuatiful new car with all the gas mileage was pure karma for not standing up with Dean against the torture of that poor kid.
14. So Castiel/Balthazar has probably already been written, right? Though I don't find Balthazar particularly sexually appealing, alas.