15x1: Back and to the Future
Here we are, at the beginning of the end of all things. Or, well, Supernatural at any rate. Bittersweet, for damned sure. I'm going to try to comment on each episode this season, because if not now … when? Let's kick this in the ass.
The episode ended up having something for just about everyone; I just wish they'd elevate the quality of the art to the level of early seasons. This shall be my lament forever, I suspect.
My first impression, being the ardent (some may say “evil”) Sam girl that I am, is that there was more Jack and Nick in the “then” recap kicking off the show than there was Sam. Which, well, look at last year. Sam played practically zero part in the plot arc. Which wouldn't have bugged me all that much if Sam had gotten some tasty episodes from his POV. *stares at the camera* All's I can say is I hope-per the title card-we get Sam's God-wound functioning as a part of the mytharc and it does seem as though that might be the case. Don't tease me, show!
Cue the zombie apocalypse. As jump-cutty as that scene was, we got some wonderful shots of the guys galloping through the dark, woodsy graveyard, in silhouette. Can I just note that Sam's legs are probably as long as my entire body? Yep.
Cas had probably my favorite line in the episode: after they've retreated to a chapel, they're discussing how truly FUBARed they are and as Dean pines about their options (being either ripped apart by zombghosts or stuck starving in the building), Cas deadpans, “Well, I wouldn't starve.”
Jack's carcass stands up and reveals he's now not-Jack, but a demon named Belphegor. Alex Calvert was adorable in this role; his likability wasn't dampened in the least by the character's snark and, you know, being a demon. It was a treat to see Alex have fun with it! As far as we can gather, we've not heard mention of Belphegor in any of the past episodes, and it's pretty clear this guy is more powerful than he's letting on. He's got a host of spells up his sleeve (and while acting as a plot short-cut and infernalis ex machina in the episode, classic Dabb, it feels like this will figure in later.)
Just an aside: spells have gotten reeeeeally cheap and easy lately. Again, classic Dabb.
Also Dabb? He can't write teen girls to save his life.
So, Bloody Mary shows up again, sprung from Hell, and for some reason doesn't behave like old-school Bloody Mary? (We're still trying to figure out exactly how SPN has designed these things that got released from Downstairs when God has his tantrum. Nothing makes much sense yet, on that front.)
How on earth can they be sure all the ghosts went to Harlan, Kansas? Convenient, that.
And how on earth does that car crash instantly remind them of a Woman in White? There's a lot we're supposed to handwave in this episode. I mean, I get it. They've gotta fit stuff into 43 minutes but this episode handwaves a lot. It threw me out of the story multiple times. Additionally, in flashing back to the old episodes and the original versions of the ghosts they revisit, it makes it painfully clear how unscary SPN has become. The old fx and brilliant cinematography and lighting really hold up. Now? Not so much. The blood looks like paint. The ghosts wander around in broad daylight like misplaced Haunted House employees. The soundtrack is over-the-top and intrusive, where strategic silence would be far more effective. Come on, y'all; DETAILS.
I'm probably asking way too much of the show at this point in the game. I most certainly am, actually. On we go!
Jump to the next ghost sighting. Which went on foreeeeeever. We really didn't need two and a half minutes of expected woman-panicking-and-here-comes-the-scary-clown. The fact they chose to show the clown in well-lit, graphic detail makes the ghost look all the more like a guy in make-up. Again, asking too much?
Meanwhile, our intrepid team tries to evacuate Harlan. Sam's jeans look very nice. Cas is seriously creeped out by Belphegor and joins Sam in a house-to-house hunt for ghosts, people, whatever. (Three guesses which house Sam decides to investigate.) Where my Sastiel fans at? I dig that the show seems to be hearkening back to OG Cas in this episode. His dry sense of almost-humor is back. He busts through doors as Sam carefully sneaks. Points scored here.
Dean and not!Jack hang out in Baby together. Belphegor makes a point of going on about how pretty modern man is, including Dean. WE KNOW, demon kid; we know. You are not wrong.
Dean makes a point of putting the God-gun in the glovebox. Belphegor notices. (Three guesses who steals the God-gun at some point down the season.) They pine about poor Jack.
Sam is so soft with the little girl he's rescuing. It's lovely. Then ghost Gacy shows up and brings the room down. And by the room, I mean Sam. There's quite a bit of delightful whump on Sammy this episode. Cas saves the day! And gets a peek at Sam's boob. #Sassy
Back in town, Belphegor's still crushing on Dean and, as it turns out, Dean's expertise at torture in Hell under Alastair's tutelage. This certainly can't be good. Dean gets Bel talking about the current state of Hell, and we find out the Cage-yeah, that Cage-has been sprung open too. Meaning Michael is on the loose. Dean is not impressed, even a little. Doesn't seem like anyone's officially in charge down there either, but who even knows if Dabb remembers that particular dangling thread? I do.
Okay, so tiny spoiler for what we think may be Episode Three: when Cas heals a gash Sam sustained from wrasslin' with Gacy, Cas gets some sort of vision, a quick red flash of Sam smirking and Dean … down. Hurt? They seem to be in the bunker, but something has clearly gone pear-shaped. And Cas can't heal Sam's bullet wound from the God-gun. Given that we see the bullet wound (and the Samulet!) in this season's title card? This bodes well for Sam having a piece of the mytharc this year! Right in the nick of time.
BRING OUT YER DEAD. The ghosts descend upon our protagonists, in broad daylight, tossing Dean around like an actor on a string, and it really couldn't be less scary. I haz the sad. Sam inadvertently blasts Cas with rocksalt and Cas rolls his eyes, “You shot me.” I'm happy again. Then they all run away from the ghosts down the middle of the street and it's very silly.
It is interesting, though, that the Woman in White can injure Belphegor. And he uses that injured hand to activate a spell that effectively domes the town from ghosts. Hmmm.
Dean's still ticked at Cas (oooh, so romantic!), and then we get the second best scene in the episode: Dean getting a peek at Sam's boob cleaning Sam's God-gun wound with cotton balls and bad jokes. Hits me in my heart place. They'll never not be this to each other. Then the boys come to the conclusion that if they can crush all the escaped hellspawn, God won't come back and they're free of him. Which, whut? Okay, if you say so? But then they make the save and flawlessly execute the FIRST best scene in the episode: POV looking out from Baby's trunk at Sam and Dean, they go to slam it and the scene cuts to the end of Season 1, Episode 1.
We've got work to do.
And I'll leave it at that.
The episode ended up having something for just about everyone; I just wish they'd elevate the quality of the art to the level of early seasons. This shall be my lament forever, I suspect.
My first impression, being the ardent (some may say “evil”) Sam girl that I am, is that there was more Jack and Nick in the “then” recap kicking off the show than there was Sam. Which, well, look at last year. Sam played practically zero part in the plot arc. Which wouldn't have bugged me all that much if Sam had gotten some tasty episodes from his POV. *stares at the camera* All's I can say is I hope-per the title card-we get Sam's God-wound functioning as a part of the mytharc and it does seem as though that might be the case. Don't tease me, show!
Cue the zombie apocalypse. As jump-cutty as that scene was, we got some wonderful shots of the guys galloping through the dark, woodsy graveyard, in silhouette. Can I just note that Sam's legs are probably as long as my entire body? Yep.
Cas had probably my favorite line in the episode: after they've retreated to a chapel, they're discussing how truly FUBARed they are and as Dean pines about their options (being either ripped apart by zombghosts or stuck starving in the building), Cas deadpans, “Well, I wouldn't starve.”
Jack's carcass stands up and reveals he's now not-Jack, but a demon named Belphegor. Alex Calvert was adorable in this role; his likability wasn't dampened in the least by the character's snark and, you know, being a demon. It was a treat to see Alex have fun with it! As far as we can gather, we've not heard mention of Belphegor in any of the past episodes, and it's pretty clear this guy is more powerful than he's letting on. He's got a host of spells up his sleeve (and while acting as a plot short-cut and infernalis ex machina in the episode, classic Dabb, it feels like this will figure in later.)
Just an aside: spells have gotten reeeeeally cheap and easy lately. Again, classic Dabb.
Also Dabb? He can't write teen girls to save his life.
So, Bloody Mary shows up again, sprung from Hell, and for some reason doesn't behave like old-school Bloody Mary? (We're still trying to figure out exactly how SPN has designed these things that got released from Downstairs when God has his tantrum. Nothing makes much sense yet, on that front.)
How on earth can they be sure all the ghosts went to Harlan, Kansas? Convenient, that.
And how on earth does that car crash instantly remind them of a Woman in White? There's a lot we're supposed to handwave in this episode. I mean, I get it. They've gotta fit stuff into 43 minutes but this episode handwaves a lot. It threw me out of the story multiple times. Additionally, in flashing back to the old episodes and the original versions of the ghosts they revisit, it makes it painfully clear how unscary SPN has become. The old fx and brilliant cinematography and lighting really hold up. Now? Not so much. The blood looks like paint. The ghosts wander around in broad daylight like misplaced Haunted House employees. The soundtrack is over-the-top and intrusive, where strategic silence would be far more effective. Come on, y'all; DETAILS.
I'm probably asking way too much of the show at this point in the game. I most certainly am, actually. On we go!
Jump to the next ghost sighting. Which went on foreeeeeever. We really didn't need two and a half minutes of expected woman-panicking-and-here-comes-the-scary-clown. The fact they chose to show the clown in well-lit, graphic detail makes the ghost look all the more like a guy in make-up. Again, asking too much?
Meanwhile, our intrepid team tries to evacuate Harlan. Sam's jeans look very nice. Cas is seriously creeped out by Belphegor and joins Sam in a house-to-house hunt for ghosts, people, whatever. (Three guesses which house Sam decides to investigate.) Where my Sastiel fans at? I dig that the show seems to be hearkening back to OG Cas in this episode. His dry sense of almost-humor is back. He busts through doors as Sam carefully sneaks. Points scored here.
Dean and not!Jack hang out in Baby together. Belphegor makes a point of going on about how pretty modern man is, including Dean. WE KNOW, demon kid; we know. You are not wrong.
Dean makes a point of putting the God-gun in the glovebox. Belphegor notices. (Three guesses who steals the God-gun at some point down the season.) They pine about poor Jack.
Sam is so soft with the little girl he's rescuing. It's lovely. Then ghost Gacy shows up and brings the room down. And by the room, I mean Sam. There's quite a bit of delightful whump on Sammy this episode. Cas saves the day! And gets a peek at Sam's boob. #Sassy
Back in town, Belphegor's still crushing on Dean and, as it turns out, Dean's expertise at torture in Hell under Alastair's tutelage. This certainly can't be good. Dean gets Bel talking about the current state of Hell, and we find out the Cage-yeah, that Cage-has been sprung open too. Meaning Michael is on the loose. Dean is not impressed, even a little. Doesn't seem like anyone's officially in charge down there either, but who even knows if Dabb remembers that particular dangling thread? I do.
Okay, so tiny spoiler for what we think may be Episode Three: when Cas heals a gash Sam sustained from wrasslin' with Gacy, Cas gets some sort of vision, a quick red flash of Sam smirking and Dean … down. Hurt? They seem to be in the bunker, but something has clearly gone pear-shaped. And Cas can't heal Sam's bullet wound from the God-gun. Given that we see the bullet wound (and the Samulet!) in this season's title card? This bodes well for Sam having a piece of the mytharc this year! Right in the nick of time.
BRING OUT YER DEAD. The ghosts descend upon our protagonists, in broad daylight, tossing Dean around like an actor on a string, and it really couldn't be less scary. I haz the sad. Sam inadvertently blasts Cas with rocksalt and Cas rolls his eyes, “You shot me.” I'm happy again. Then they all run away from the ghosts down the middle of the street and it's very silly.
It is interesting, though, that the Woman in White can injure Belphegor. And he uses that injured hand to activate a spell that effectively domes the town from ghosts. Hmmm.
Dean's still ticked at Cas (oooh, so romantic!), and then we get the second best scene in the episode: Dean getting a peek at Sam's boob cleaning Sam's God-gun wound with cotton balls and bad jokes. Hits me in my heart place. They'll never not be this to each other. Then the boys come to the conclusion that if they can crush all the escaped hellspawn, God won't come back and they're free of him. Which, whut? Okay, if you say so? But then they make the save and flawlessly execute the FIRST best scene in the episode: POV looking out from Baby's trunk at Sam and Dean, they go to slam it and the scene cuts to the end of Season 1, Episode 1.
We've got work to do.
And I'll leave it at that.