Picspam Reaction: Supernatural 8.01
Go season 8!
Warning: Contains profanity
Spoiler and Theory Summary
Title: "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
This is a good example of how titles can be spoilers. Discovering this title while still watching 7.22 told me Kevin survives the finale and will be significant for at least the early parts of season 8 if not longer, meaning any speculation I had about him had to be curtailed or left out of reaction posts I was doing for the final two episodes, because they would have been influenced by things known about season 8. I would have speculated something along those lines anyway, but if I have that extra confirmation the things won't be going spectacularly explodey for Kevin in the final minutes of season 7, it's not speculation anymore, as it's been confirmed.
I am lagging very far behind though, so it couldn't be helped; it was posted outside a cut in a few places, but it was of course also all over the newsletter after the airing, so what can ya do, right? When the end of Season 7 was actually airing, the title for 8.01 wasn't even a glint in the writer's eye and so there wouldn't have even been a risk of running across it, but it serves as an example.
For my posts, I keep the title under a spoiler cut on my recaps regardless of how long it's been since the episode, because I know there are some people on my f-list who watch the show but are stuck on UK-pace or AUS-pace or other, and they won't see the episodes for a long while yet. Most of them aren't quite as rabid spoiler-phobes, but I try to keep any confirmed show information under wraps when I can, regardless, because that's how I roll *handwave*.
So, anyway, now it looks like maybe Kevin's rock-reading head-rider or whatever will be starting to flex and come more to the fore, which only makes sense, because that was a hell of a lot of zappiness and eye-shine for what he's had so far.
I also know that Sera has moved on from being show-runner and Jeremy Carver has taken top spot. It will be interesting what he difference in flavor will be this year as a result.
Also... there was one other really odd note I ran across about 8.01 which gave me a sudden image of Dean being stuck in Purgatory with Benedict Cumberbatch, buuuuut I am pretty sure that will not be happening. :-P
Picspam Reaction, with speculation and randomness for Supernatural 8.01 - "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
-"THE ROAD SO FAR" With music! Oh my. Music is "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull, and we are off to a very awesome start. Including the rear end of the unicorn paired with Bobby saying "backside of your worst nightmare." Har har.
-Oooo, pretty.
-WHAT??? Dean and Castiel have been in Purgatory a year? Yike! O.O
-Light sure is noisy on this show. So, gate from Purgatory, gate from the Faerie dimension, gate from somewhere else or crack in the universe... which would actually work pretty well here, maybe?
-"Go do something!" Er one, no. Two, you could do something yourself, and three, these people are camping before the opening title, they're doomed anyway, why am I trying to reason with them? Still, sweetie, you are just as capable of grabbing the axe you use on the firewood and peering outside to meet your inevitable doom face first as your boyfriend (I'm assuming) is.
-"It was a deer." DOOOOOOOOMED.
-HI DEAN. Damn. This is going to be like Dean after Hell for a while, isn't it? Because Dean adapts, and has just spent a year (or who knows how long in Purgatory time) surviving all the monsters ever by any means necessary. Oh dear. O.o
-MUSIC! AGAIN! YEAH! "Man in the Wilderness" by Styx, which I did not even have to Google to figure out, but got it before the lyrics kicked in, for which I feel quite chuffed. Of course that means I'm probably wrong. [Nope!]
-Lovely shot. Framing, trees, all that stuff.
-Hi windmill! Long time no see! Last time was in the episode in the old west with the phoenix, wasn't it?
-Getting quite concerned about Dean's arm. After four days, it's either busted and healing wrong or infected in some way. Also wondering who he's digging up. Vague guess that it's Castiel, but a year is a long time.
-Or Castiel is hitching a ride in Dean's arm? Okay, that's new!
-Not going to look the same of course since poor Jimmy hasn't exactly got a grave anywhere on earth. But... hm... Maybe this isn't Castiel, but... one of the monsters from Purgatory? Hunh. Well, my surrogate Mary-Sue, Bobby's Professor Ex was one, so they aren't universally bad by default. I do wonder what happened to Castiel then though.
-Ah, a vampire. Okey dokey then. Dean definitely adapts.
-"We made it, brother." Oh really? I mean, I know that's a colloquialism sort of thing like 'pal' or 'mate' but 'brother' on this show.... OH REALLY?? O.O
-Yes, I can hear boggle checks being made all over the fandom.
-Oooo, flamey firey rock-writing title! Yeah, Kevin's going to be big this year. And heartbeats, speeding up. Ooo.
-Hee. Kermit. Sorry. Looks like Sam kept the car though. Good. I wouldn't want to have to kick his ass. Because I would hurt myself. Did Sam get a year of normal to parallel Dean's with Lisa and Ben?
-*flails all over at Sam having a dog* D'awwww.
-Come on Sam, nut up and say goodbye to the girl. You petted her frigging dog goodbye, you could at least say something to her. Incidentally, what the hell is up with the romance-novel cover flowing locks of hair, Sam??? Are you over-compensating for the evil sideburns, or trying to grow a ponytail? O.o
-Car. Carcarcarcarcar. *purrs* Sorry. Far to little of it last season. Not capping well, but the engine sounds wonderful. Dean lurking in the shadows there, or Dean's vampire friend?
-Title, yep. *nods*
-Yes. Cabin, car, tree, yes. I'll take it. Just wait 'til I win the lottery.
-Car door noise! *purrs more*
-Aw, sad puppy, extended emo hair edition.
-Damn, Dean's efficient with the testing, no surprise there. Not terribly cappable, but it's reminding me of rodeo calf-roping. And reminding me a bit of the pilot. Hee. Borax in the eyes would probably hurt though, wouldn't it?
-Hmm. Come to think of it, Sam seemed more surprised that Dean had tackled him and was dumping various liquids on him than surprised that Dean wasn't in Purgatory, so either Dean phoned ahead, which all things considered is quite likely, or Dean's been commuting to and from Purgatory on a regular basis so his presence on the plane of Earth is no big whoop. Which would be kind of awesome in a mind-blowing way.
-"I don't need to, I know it's you."/"Dammit, Sammy! *commences dousing himself with all the things*" HEEEEEEE! And awww. Yeah. This would be an example of hypervigilance, yes? Spending a year trying to survive in a dimension full of really pissed off monster souls would lend itself quite strongly to some classic PTSD.
-"Come on!"/"No! Dean, can I just say hello?" Awww. And here I thought Holy Water showers and blood-letting were the Winchester way of saying hello.
-I was going to say it's good to see Dean smiling, but in the screencap he looks frigging depraved. Aw.
-HUG TIEM NAO!
What? If this show has taught me anything, it's that Winchester hugs are rare events that need to be well-documented for full appreciation, especially since they are often followed by intense angst or separation anxiety.
-"I guess whoever built that box didn't want me in there any more than I did." Uhhhh.... The person who built the box that is Purgatory, according to internal show mythology, would be God. Oooookaaaaay... Chuck stopped by to pop him out? Hm... O.o
-"I'm here. Okay?" Hehehe. Do not ask or expect answers to questions about how Dean got out of Purgatory and what a vampire he considers eligible for hugs has to do with it until oh, rough guess, just before the December hiatus.
-Castiel didn't make it? "Something happened to him down there. *chin wibble*" OH GOD THE CHIN WIBBLE.
-"I said I saw enough, Sam." Oooo, Dean is a solid wall of sharp prickly objects on that topic right now. I seriously doubt Castiel is fully gone, because speaking meta-wise, they wouldn't do away with a character that's become that major with a footnote between seasons. It'd be like Sam saying right about now, "Oh by the way, I sold your car and bought a Prius." So, expecting further developments on the "what happened to Castiel" front, possibly later this episode, or within the next couple at least.
-Written by Jeremy Carver, hi and welcome to the new boss who has been with the show since 2007 and is half of Chuck's Carver Edlund pseudonym, so hopefully if any crack-monkey plotlines come flying around this season they will be Show-appropriate and internally consistent crack-monkey plotlines. Those are the best kind. Directed by Robert Singer, riding herd on this zoo since season one, and had this lovely quote during that first Paley panel:
I come in from a characters’ point of view, it’s all about characters to me and I let the plot work itself out, given what the characters are gonna do and what I’m interested in the scenes that drive the plot but I’m mostly interested in how the characters react to it.
So it looks like season 8 is in good hands.
-"I don't hunt anymore." Yeah, Sammy got some normal. Wonder how long that's going to last.
-"Crowley shipped Kevin and Meg off to parts unknown." Yeaaaaaah, that's not good. And Crowley's had them for an Earth plane year, so if he took them to Hell, a year is what again in Hell years? If a month is ten years, that's 120 years? Heck of a long time for the King of Hell to have control over the kid who can read the rock with the base-code of Genesis on it. All kinds of bad. And yet Sam is disturbingly unbothered by that. I am a bit bothered by Sam being unbothered by that. I hope he passed the intel on... but who would he pass it to? Garth? That's... a really scary thought.... O.o
-"I just fixed the Impala and... drove."/"After you looked for me."/*long pause of puppy face*/"Did you look for me, Sam?" Oh ow.
-"Good. That's good. We always told each other not to look for each other. Of course, we always ignored that because of our deep abiding love for each other, but not this time, right Sammy?" OH OW. OWWWWWW. Yes, let's start off with masses of pain and anguish and recrimination all over everything. This is why you wallow in the Winchester hugs when they happen. Oh boys. This is going to be an uphill year for them I think.
-Heh. I thought for a second Sam was making Spaghetti-o's, as a call back to the flashback scenes in Something Wicked. Can looks more like Puritan Stew, or Puritan Meatballs and Gravy, which Google informs me is a Canadian only brand. Missed opportunity there, but it might have been a bit heavy-handed. Plus they aren't kids anymore.
-"Hi Sam Winchester? It's Kevin Tran." *EPIC FACEPALM* Just because you decided to leave the family business, doesn't mean it ever leaves you.
-"Three months since you ditched my ass." Oh Sam, you are so very far in the doghouse. Poor Kevin!
-"If you're still alive, eat me." You know, I really like Kevin. I really do.
-"He was our responsibility, and you couldn't answer the damned phone." Oh yes, all the ouch. Oh we are off to a rocky start for the boys this year.
-*FLAPPY HANDS* TRUNKTRUNKTRUNKTRUNK! TRUUUUUUNK!!! Sorry. Excitable. But seriously you guys, TRUUUUUUUUUUUUUNK!!!
-"Smell like dog to you?" Oh my, Sam had the dog riding around in the Impala. You know, I don't think he's mentioned living with someone yet. Wonder if that's going to become a 'thing' this season. Hm. If so, reveal estimated if not this ep, then next. Kind of funny that Sam didn't unload the trunk though. Unless he reloaded it. Must have.
-Sam, your face cannot lie. Stop before you sprain something.
-Oh crap, flashbacks.
-"Where's the angel?" Aw he's hunting down monsters in Purgatory trying to find Castiel!
-Very effective beheading tool, that. Looked like it could be obsidian, which can be made into wicked sharp tools via flint-knapping.
-Ah, enter the huggable vampire. Has he gotten a name yet? My sound's a bit muddy.
-"People were okay, Dean. You're okay."/"Wow." Yeah, that's kind of wow. Dean jumping and twitching at every noise and wanting to keep moving is also not okay by a long shot, not to mention the year in Purgatory, and Kevin survived by sheer dumb luck or maybe rock-reader intervention, and who knows what the roving remaining headless Leviathans got up to. So I concur with Dean's 'Wow.'
-"And you said what? 'Not my problem?'" Sam is really not starting off this season well...
-"People died, Sam."/"That's what people DO!!""People always die, Dean." Sorry, had a bit of a Sherlock flashback there. Sam, nearly quoting Jim Moriarty is not going to help your case any.
-"Maybe another hunter took care of it." And he didn't even pass word to any hunters he knew that something was up. I mean, a call. An e-mail from an account that's a dead-drop. It's- arrrg... *facepalm*
-"There was a girl. And then there wasn't." Hmmm.... So did he break it off there at the start, or is Sam lying to his own brother to keep Dean out of his new normal life and keep monsters from her. Which, given his track record with romantic partnerships is rather wise. Or not. Hmm.
-"I knew I smelled dog!" Heee! He's kept an even keel through Sam going on about leaving hunting and it's not his problem any more and all that, but a dog in the Impala and it's snarling time.
-"You don't take a joint from a guy named Don." Well there's a fic prompt for someone if I ever heard one.
-"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."/"Try me." He did spend most of the last two seasons screwed up beyond recognition from a stay in Lucifer's cage, so... *shrug* Maybe? Seriously though, there needs to be a therapist specializing in Hunter issues. I'm thinking one of the primary reasons the Roadhouse became a thing was the freelance group therapy among Hunters, along with the plentiful booze.
-"There was something about being there. Felt pure." Yeah, I can see that. If everything's a monster by definition, there's no need for making moral decisions or judgement calls. At least until one of them saves your butt.
-"I show you the door, you haul my soul to the other side." Simple enough deal and set-up. How many episodes until it all goes south?
-I don't think I often make purely esthetic comments, but damn, make-up did an awesome job on Jensen for this. Well done.
-Right so Kevin's ex isn't interested in helping him, everyone thinks he was on drugs, yeah, yeah, but TIE REPORT: Sam, still has that multi-shaded stripes tie, angling down towards Dean. Dean, SPOTS. SPOTS INSIDE SPOTS. Ho crap. Like, Dean's all balled up inside himself and surrounded by walls. Not a stripe in sight. Dean is really very screwed up and really very pissed off at Sam, and Sam is trying, I think, but it's more complicated than it needs to be. Also, there hasn't been a two-shot with the both of them side by side in ties yet and this makes me nervous. Nervouser.
-Okay, okay, Auxiliary tie report: Dean's tie spots do make stripes of a sort (ties like this make me think they are deliberately messing with me, but then I realize that I'm just insane and really should not attribute the decisions of the costuming department to a plot aimed at me personally :-P), and currently they are angling down toward Sam, but Sam's tie is now sloping down away from Dean, so Dean's also trying but has a hell of a lot more to get past, and their stripes aren't being mutually supportive, no matter which way they stand, so it's all very awkward and cross-purposes and hurt feelings and not-the-whole-truthness just now, which of course it is, because that's what the words were saying before. *nods* Also, Sam's hair needs help. It doesn't look bad, it's actually almost as appealing as the best of his evil soulless hair, but it's also making me nervous, because it's almost as appealing as his evil soulless hair which is never ever a good sign.
-Well, shit. Didn't see that one coming. Dean's hypervigilance is slipping already, but it would be tricky to go around spraying female college students with Holy Water and Borax. Also, can't say as I am terribly disconcerted about the roommate's imminent death as she's picking out dates for her roomie based on their assumed religion and whether they have an 'Asian thing'. Poor Kevin's girlfriend though. She's really got the short end of several sticks here.
-Awwwwww. I have no doubt Jared had no problem acting upset that he'd hit a dog with a car. Poor wubbie.
-"It's for me? Seriously?" Awwwwwww. Brings to mind the question of what Dean ate while in Purgatory, but thoughts along those lines rapidly get disturbing. Still, if you want Dean to forgive you, cheeseburgers are a reliable place to start. He's like a LOLcat that way.
-"Dude, it's a burger."/"It's treasure." Yes indeed. I repeat, Awwwwwwww.
-"That is spectacular work. Any chance I can get that in English?" I am half-pleased that I understood Sam's technobabble, and also half-concerned.
-The location scouts on this show need to be sent cookies and baskets of happiness.
-YES! SOMEONE FINALLY HAD A HOLY WATER SUPER-SOAKER!!! OR BORAX SUPER-SOAKER!!! WHATEVER!! GO KEVIN!!! \o/ (Kevin also looks very different with a haircut.)
-"Cliff notes: I went to Purgatory, Sam hit a dog." Yeah, that about sums it up.
-God showed him how to trap demons. Greeeeat. Helpful, yes, but nervous-making.
-"First they took me to a warehouse." No, actually, it seems that the very first thing they did was take you to a Supercuts, since your hair's a good several inches shorter in this flashback than it was in 7.23. It's a little known factoid that demons aren't fond of floppy hair because it hides eye color. Or something. Yeah. *handwaves hair continuity issue*
-Hi Crowley! Whatcha up to?
-"Look at you, haircut, manicure, pedicure. Like a new penny." Yay, they wrote the hair discontinuity into the script! Handwave retracted! Also, it seems getting kidnapped by demons is a bit like going to a spa. Not that I've had experience with either. O.o
-"How many Words of God are there?"/"I just became a prophet like a year ago." Heee. I like Kevin. I hope whatever's got him doesn't overwrite his personality, because this one's fun and so far quite resilient.
-"Demons." Hm. And the other tablet was Leviathans, so... are these tablets less like the base-code of Creation and more like God's Hunting Journal? O.o
-"Where's Mr. Crowley?"/"Where do you think, dumbass? Wisconsin." Hee. I like the snarky demons. Also, a Hell gate in Wisconsin, imagine that. Being able to remote open it from wherever they're at is handy.
-Oh ho, little smirk, I see you. Sooooo, fake making a remote Open Hell Gate spell but actually make something that's going to vaporize every demon in a hundred yard radius or something, because no one but you can read the rock. And fool Crowley in the process. GO KEVIN!!! \o/
-Niiiiice. That'll come in handy.
-Crowley is going to be SO pissed when he figures out a human kid pulled one over on him. His underlings will ridicule him for eons. XD
-"Only the stuff about closing the Gates of Hell. Forever." DUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!! First segment of season arc has been spotted, and it is excellent. \o/
-"Banish all demons off the face of the Earth and lock them away forever. That could be important, right?" *gleeeeee*
-"There's no way that Kevin's getting out of this intact, is there?" Considering he's spent a year on the run from demons and has something in his head that let's him read God's diary, I don't think that was ever an option once you guys hammered on the ancient artifact and got him zapped.
-"So, free will, that's only for you?" Oooohohohoho. Sam, seriously, what? Considering Dean spent a year in Purgatory very recently, not at his own will, while you ditched on hunting and didn't so much as answer your phone when Kevin needed help, I really think you should shut the hell up.
-"Killed our mother, killed Jess." Aw, yay season one call-back. And, no surprise, I'm totally siding with Dean. And and, Kevin seems to be a damned tough cookie, all things considered.
-'Sorry for abandoning you to the demons, I needed to clear my head.' Oh this apology is not going well. Sam, dude, just- *facepalm*
-And I'd like to add a little spontaneous love note for whoever chose this framing and angle. *draws hearts*
-"It gets better." Sam, aside from your world-class inability to lie convincingly, and the fact that it has been getting nothing but worse for you since you were nine and you found out your dad hunted monsters, your recent 'fuck it all, I'm going to stick my head in the normal life sand box and let other people handle the icky parts for a while' really doesn't speak well to the whole 'it gets better' idea.
-"You know I'm not gay, right?" *facepalm* Arg.
-"Maybe if you were such an upstanding guy you wouldn't have hit him in the first place?" I'm thinking this would be Sam's girlfriend, yeah? Didn't get a clear look at her in the dark, but it seems to be trending in that direction.
-Sudden earthquakes in Iowa. Not a good sign.
-Well that's one way of getting around a Devil's trap.
-Sam, there are demons coming, you can look at Dean's shiny new toy later. Not sure how good it will be against demons, but considering it's physical matter that came from Purgatory, I suspect it might be kinda funky.
-I'm finding it funny that in this particular fight with demons, Kevin's the one who gets the first effective hit in.
-Darn. No getting to see how the Purgatory blade does against demons this round.
-Whoops, here comes round two? Not tactically smart, outing your operative in Kevin's ex-girlfriend, but since the boys and Crowley now know where Kevin is, she's not a strategically significant person to possess... eeeexcept as a potential way to get Kevin to cooperate if Crowley threatens her structural integrity or offers to have his flunky evacuate (which considering from the forensic evidence in her dorm it looks like she slit her roommate's throat so it really wouldn't be doing her any favors to send her back to stand trial in Michigan, which may not have the death penalty, but it sure wouldn't be a fun life for a very very long time, but Kevin et al don't know that).
-"Where's your angel?"/"Ask your mother." Pfffft, that made me laugh far harder than was appropriate.
-"Moose! Still with the pork chops! Admire that." When the King of Hell admires your hairstyle, particularly your Sideburns of Evil, maybe it's time for a haircut, hmm?
-"And I'll let the girl go back to 'What's the point?' U." Hehehe, yeah. Bargaining chip, and Crowley making a deal that seems a heck of a lot better than it really is.
-"He's lying. You won't get Channing back, she's probably dead already." Dean of course knows Crowley's up to something, but not the details, although even if she isn't dead and wanted for the messy slaughter of her roommate, spending a significant amount of time possessed by a demon has probably not done her sanity any favors.
-She really is a very pretty girl. And considering she's just blown past three 'who the hell is this strange man's and one 'where the heck am I?' and no doubt a few 'omg I slit someone's throat's to focus on Kevin, she really does still like if not love him. Whiiiich means she's thoroughly hooped no matter which way she goes. Yep, doomed. She did make it to the new season though, which is more than I thought she would at the end of season 7, so go Channing!
-"There's a demon in you and you're going to your safety school."/"What?!" Why do I get the feeling the horrified 'what?!' is less for the demon and more for the safety school? The horror you understand has the greatest impact. You know, if this demon has had her since Kevin went missing, it probably had her during finals and totally screwed up her college plans. Damn demons! *fistshake*
-And of course Kevin goes for it. Somewhere on that rock about demons there should be a 'detect bullshit' spell. Or the data point that they are always speaking bullshit, and every deal is a bad one. Uuuuunless he knows that and is pulling one over on Crowley again, which if he does, Crowley's underlings might start getting restive.
-"This ain't over Crowley."/"*something about a marshmallow???*" Seriously, I've run that bit back 5 times and I cannot discern what Crowley's saying there. Something snarky I'll assume.
-"C'mon Kevin! Chop chop!"/*silence*/"Kevin?" Heheheheeee. Twice. Twice Crowley. You are rapidly losing your demon cred.
-Ooo, Crowley can make Ruby's demon-killing knife go burny. Hm. Makes sense, I mean if a demon made it, the king of demons should either be immune to it or be able to influence it.
-"Sam! Dean! Run!" Okay, Kevin needs to stop being so awesome. No wait, he totally doesn't. GO KEVIN! \o/
-"Find another meat suit." Oh god. And then the slow-mo and tragic music kicks in as they pass the porch. Never a good sign.
-Oh, and of course Sam and Kevin are both on that side of the car, framed in the shot by the Impala windows oh so perfectly, because now the 'demons killed my girlfriend' support group has a brand new member, doesn't it? Clever. Clever clever show.
-(Though really, given their track record with the 'kill a loved one' technique of intimidation and the way it seems to jump-start hunting careers instead of dissuade people from decades-spanning revenge quests, you'd think demons might have clued in by now that it's not an effective deterrent at all. :-P)
-"Wrong number. Automated jackass." Why am I suddenly paranoid about that? Unless it wasn't really a wrong number but Dean's vampire buddy calling. Nice that Sam kept Dean's phone up in that case, since he would have given him the number in Purgatory before they left. I'm over-thinking this, aren't I?
-"Kevin? How you holding up?"/"Awesome. The King of Hell just snapped my girlfriend's neck, how about you?" See? He's practically a Winchester already.
-Yeah, probably not a good time to mention what happened with Jessica. Maybe later when Kevin feels more like talking it out and less like punching the nearest face.
-"You're in it now, whether you like it or not. That means you do what you gotta do. I'm hitting the head." Pfffft! Yes, well, if you've gotta do that, you've gotta do that. Enjoy the hell out of indoor plumbing, which is not as much of a guaranteed thing when you're on the road or in Purgatory. That aside, Dean's little speech sounds quite like a John Winchester pep-talk there does it not?
-And speaking of John Winchester, yet again, Dean using a trip to the bathroom to make a surreptitious phone call. Not to John this time though unless some major stuff happened in Purgatory we don't know about yet, probably to the huggable vampire.
-Yep. And he's at a funeral. Interesting.
-"A lot's changed in 50 years." So the huggable vampire (who needs a name soon because this is getting silly) was last on the Earth in 1962, and also has an occasion flash of accent from... Louisiana? Noting that in case it's important later.
-"So many choices." *facepalm* Vampires. Reinterpreting the notion of a 'funeral buffet'.
-"Listen, Benny-" Ahhhh, the huggable vampire's name is Benny. That's where that odd note I mentioned in the spoiler section comes in. Definitely not Benedict Cumberbatch in Purgatory. Of course. *nods* (Hmm... Would the Creature end up in Purgatory when he died? *ponders* Sorry, spurious crossover reference.)
-Yep. Doing what they had to do to get out. Does a Vampire who's been to Purgatory and returned still have the same weaknesses as a regular vampire, or is it like a double-jeopardy thing, where he can't be killed the same way a second time? Because I think we all know where this pragmatic alliance of Dean's is most likely to end up.
-"Purgatory was purer. I kinda wish I had appreciated it more, y'know?" Yeah, because really, in Purgatory, you go around ripping out random throats, you're just doing what everyone else would if they got the chance, no one blinks or calls the cops or splatters the incident in the papers, alerting hunters who would track you down and decapitate you. Whereas Earth, the need to keep a low profile in order to survive makes ripping people's throats out a much harder proposition.
Well, an interesting start to the season, with a lot of plot elements and potential season arcs launching. *ponders*
I can however see that I'm going to need to really alter my reaction post making methods, because the current rate and way I'm doing these is not workable with my current work schedule. So, the next two catch-up reaction posts, for those few of you who read these, will be experiments in methodology, and more than likely considerably shorter. In theory. We'll see how that goes. :-P
(PLEASE, NO REFERENCES TO EPISODES PAST 8.01 IN COMMENTS! I'm catching up as fast as I can, two more to go!)
Warning: Contains profanity
Spoiler and Theory Summary
Title: "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
This is a good example of how titles can be spoilers. Discovering this title while still watching 7.22 told me Kevin survives the finale and will be significant for at least the early parts of season 8 if not longer, meaning any speculation I had about him had to be curtailed or left out of reaction posts I was doing for the final two episodes, because they would have been influenced by things known about season 8. I would have speculated something along those lines anyway, but if I have that extra confirmation the things won't be going spectacularly explodey for Kevin in the final minutes of season 7, it's not speculation anymore, as it's been confirmed.
I am lagging very far behind though, so it couldn't be helped; it was posted outside a cut in a few places, but it was of course also all over the newsletter after the airing, so what can ya do, right? When the end of Season 7 was actually airing, the title for 8.01 wasn't even a glint in the writer's eye and so there wouldn't have even been a risk of running across it, but it serves as an example.
For my posts, I keep the title under a spoiler cut on my recaps regardless of how long it's been since the episode, because I know there are some people on my f-list who watch the show but are stuck on UK-pace or AUS-pace or other, and they won't see the episodes for a long while yet. Most of them aren't quite as rabid spoiler-phobes, but I try to keep any confirmed show information under wraps when I can, regardless, because that's how I roll *handwave*.
So, anyway, now it looks like maybe Kevin's rock-reading head-rider or whatever will be starting to flex and come more to the fore, which only makes sense, because that was a hell of a lot of zappiness and eye-shine for what he's had so far.
I also know that Sera has moved on from being show-runner and Jeremy Carver has taken top spot. It will be interesting what he difference in flavor will be this year as a result.
Also... there was one other really odd note I ran across about 8.01 which gave me a sudden image of Dean being stuck in Purgatory with Benedict Cumberbatch, buuuuut I am pretty sure that will not be happening. :-P
Picspam Reaction, with speculation and randomness for Supernatural 8.01 - "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
-"THE ROAD SO FAR" With music! Oh my. Music is "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull, and we are off to a very awesome start. Including the rear end of the unicorn paired with Bobby saying "backside of your worst nightmare." Har har.
-Oooo, pretty.
-WHAT??? Dean and Castiel have been in Purgatory a year? Yike! O.O
-Light sure is noisy on this show. So, gate from Purgatory, gate from the Faerie dimension, gate from somewhere else or crack in the universe... which would actually work pretty well here, maybe?
-"Go do something!" Er one, no. Two, you could do something yourself, and three, these people are camping before the opening title, they're doomed anyway, why am I trying to reason with them? Still, sweetie, you are just as capable of grabbing the axe you use on the firewood and peering outside to meet your inevitable doom face first as your boyfriend (I'm assuming) is.
-"It was a deer." DOOOOOOOOMED.
-HI DEAN. Damn. This is going to be like Dean after Hell for a while, isn't it? Because Dean adapts, and has just spent a year (or who knows how long in Purgatory time) surviving all the monsters ever by any means necessary. Oh dear. O.o
-MUSIC! AGAIN! YEAH! "Man in the Wilderness" by Styx, which I did not even have to Google to figure out, but got it before the lyrics kicked in, for which I feel quite chuffed. Of course that means I'm probably wrong. [Nope!]
-Lovely shot. Framing, trees, all that stuff.
-Hi windmill! Long time no see! Last time was in the episode in the old west with the phoenix, wasn't it?
-Getting quite concerned about Dean's arm. After four days, it's either busted and healing wrong or infected in some way. Also wondering who he's digging up. Vague guess that it's Castiel, but a year is a long time.
-Or Castiel is hitching a ride in Dean's arm? Okay, that's new!
-Not going to look the same of course since poor Jimmy hasn't exactly got a grave anywhere on earth. But... hm... Maybe this isn't Castiel, but... one of the monsters from Purgatory? Hunh. Well, my surrogate Mary-Sue, Bobby's Professor Ex was one, so they aren't universally bad by default. I do wonder what happened to Castiel then though.
-Ah, a vampire. Okey dokey then. Dean definitely adapts.
-"We made it, brother." Oh really? I mean, I know that's a colloquialism sort of thing like 'pal' or 'mate' but 'brother' on this show.... OH REALLY?? O.O
-Yes, I can hear boggle checks being made all over the fandom.
-Oooo, flamey firey rock-writing title! Yeah, Kevin's going to be big this year. And heartbeats, speeding up. Ooo.
-Hee. Kermit. Sorry. Looks like Sam kept the car though. Good. I wouldn't want to have to kick his ass. Because I would hurt myself. Did Sam get a year of normal to parallel Dean's with Lisa and Ben?
-*flails all over at Sam having a dog* D'awwww.
-Come on Sam, nut up and say goodbye to the girl. You petted her frigging dog goodbye, you could at least say something to her. Incidentally, what the hell is up with the romance-novel cover flowing locks of hair, Sam??? Are you over-compensating for the evil sideburns, or trying to grow a ponytail? O.o
-Car. Carcarcarcarcar. *purrs* Sorry. Far to little of it last season. Not capping well, but the engine sounds wonderful. Dean lurking in the shadows there, or Dean's vampire friend?
-Title, yep. *nods*
-Yes. Cabin, car, tree, yes. I'll take it. Just wait 'til I win the lottery.
-Car door noise! *purrs more*
-Aw, sad puppy, extended emo hair edition.
-Damn, Dean's efficient with the testing, no surprise there. Not terribly cappable, but it's reminding me of rodeo calf-roping. And reminding me a bit of the pilot. Hee. Borax in the eyes would probably hurt though, wouldn't it?
-Hmm. Come to think of it, Sam seemed more surprised that Dean had tackled him and was dumping various liquids on him than surprised that Dean wasn't in Purgatory, so either Dean phoned ahead, which all things considered is quite likely, or Dean's been commuting to and from Purgatory on a regular basis so his presence on the plane of Earth is no big whoop. Which would be kind of awesome in a mind-blowing way.
-"I don't need to, I know it's you."/"Dammit, Sammy! *commences dousing himself with all the things*" HEEEEEEE! And awww. Yeah. This would be an example of hypervigilance, yes? Spending a year trying to survive in a dimension full of really pissed off monster souls would lend itself quite strongly to some classic PTSD.
-"Come on!"/"No! Dean, can I just say hello?" Awww. And here I thought Holy Water showers and blood-letting were the Winchester way of saying hello.
-I was going to say it's good to see Dean smiling, but in the screencap he looks frigging depraved. Aw.
-HUG TIEM NAO!
What? If this show has taught me anything, it's that Winchester hugs are rare events that need to be well-documented for full appreciation, especially since they are often followed by intense angst or separation anxiety.
-"I guess whoever built that box didn't want me in there any more than I did." Uhhhh.... The person who built the box that is Purgatory, according to internal show mythology, would be God. Oooookaaaaay... Chuck stopped by to pop him out? Hm... O.o
-"I'm here. Okay?" Hehehe. Do not ask or expect answers to questions about how Dean got out of Purgatory and what a vampire he considers eligible for hugs has to do with it until oh, rough guess, just before the December hiatus.
-Castiel didn't make it? "Something happened to him down there. *chin wibble*" OH GOD THE CHIN WIBBLE.
-"I said I saw enough, Sam." Oooo, Dean is a solid wall of sharp prickly objects on that topic right now. I seriously doubt Castiel is fully gone, because speaking meta-wise, they wouldn't do away with a character that's become that major with a footnote between seasons. It'd be like Sam saying right about now, "Oh by the way, I sold your car and bought a Prius." So, expecting further developments on the "what happened to Castiel" front, possibly later this episode, or within the next couple at least.
-Written by Jeremy Carver, hi and welcome to the new boss who has been with the show since 2007 and is half of Chuck's Carver Edlund pseudonym, so hopefully if any crack-monkey plotlines come flying around this season they will be Show-appropriate and internally consistent crack-monkey plotlines. Those are the best kind. Directed by Robert Singer, riding herd on this zoo since season one, and had this lovely quote during that first Paley panel:
I come in from a characters’ point of view, it’s all about characters to me and I let the plot work itself out, given what the characters are gonna do and what I’m interested in the scenes that drive the plot but I’m mostly interested in how the characters react to it.
So it looks like season 8 is in good hands.
-"I don't hunt anymore." Yeah, Sammy got some normal. Wonder how long that's going to last.
-"Crowley shipped Kevin and Meg off to parts unknown." Yeaaaaaah, that's not good. And Crowley's had them for an Earth plane year, so if he took them to Hell, a year is what again in Hell years? If a month is ten years, that's 120 years? Heck of a long time for the King of Hell to have control over the kid who can read the rock with the base-code of Genesis on it. All kinds of bad. And yet Sam is disturbingly unbothered by that. I am a bit bothered by Sam being unbothered by that. I hope he passed the intel on... but who would he pass it to? Garth? That's... a really scary thought.... O.o
-"I just fixed the Impala and... drove."/"After you looked for me."/*long pause of puppy face*/"Did you look for me, Sam?" Oh ow.
-"Good. That's good. We always told each other not to look for each other. Of course, we always ignored that because of our deep abiding love for each other, but not this time, right Sammy?" OH OW. OWWWWWW. Yes, let's start off with masses of pain and anguish and recrimination all over everything. This is why you wallow in the Winchester hugs when they happen. Oh boys. This is going to be an uphill year for them I think.
-Heh. I thought for a second Sam was making Spaghetti-o's, as a call back to the flashback scenes in Something Wicked. Can looks more like Puritan Stew, or Puritan Meatballs and Gravy, which Google informs me is a Canadian only brand. Missed opportunity there, but it might have been a bit heavy-handed. Plus they aren't kids anymore.
-"Hi Sam Winchester? It's Kevin Tran." *EPIC FACEPALM* Just because you decided to leave the family business, doesn't mean it ever leaves you.
-"Three months since you ditched my ass." Oh Sam, you are so very far in the doghouse. Poor Kevin!
-"If you're still alive, eat me." You know, I really like Kevin. I really do.
-"He was our responsibility, and you couldn't answer the damned phone." Oh yes, all the ouch. Oh we are off to a rocky start for the boys this year.
-*FLAPPY HANDS* TRUNKTRUNKTRUNKTRUNK! TRUUUUUUNK!!! Sorry. Excitable. But seriously you guys, TRUUUUUUUUUUUUUNK!!!
-"Smell like dog to you?" Oh my, Sam had the dog riding around in the Impala. You know, I don't think he's mentioned living with someone yet. Wonder if that's going to become a 'thing' this season. Hm. If so, reveal estimated if not this ep, then next. Kind of funny that Sam didn't unload the trunk though. Unless he reloaded it. Must have.
-Sam, your face cannot lie. Stop before you sprain something.
-Oh crap, flashbacks.
-"Where's the angel?" Aw he's hunting down monsters in Purgatory trying to find Castiel!
-Very effective beheading tool, that. Looked like it could be obsidian, which can be made into wicked sharp tools via flint-knapping.
-Ah, enter the huggable vampire. Has he gotten a name yet? My sound's a bit muddy.
-"People were okay, Dean. You're okay."/"Wow." Yeah, that's kind of wow. Dean jumping and twitching at every noise and wanting to keep moving is also not okay by a long shot, not to mention the year in Purgatory, and Kevin survived by sheer dumb luck or maybe rock-reader intervention, and who knows what the roving remaining headless Leviathans got up to. So I concur with Dean's 'Wow.'
-"And you said what? 'Not my problem?'" Sam is really not starting off this season well...
-"People died, Sam."/"That's what people DO!!""People always die, Dean." Sorry, had a bit of a Sherlock flashback there. Sam, nearly quoting Jim Moriarty is not going to help your case any.
-"Maybe another hunter took care of it." And he didn't even pass word to any hunters he knew that something was up. I mean, a call. An e-mail from an account that's a dead-drop. It's- arrrg... *facepalm*
-"There was a girl. And then there wasn't." Hmmm.... So did he break it off there at the start, or is Sam lying to his own brother to keep Dean out of his new normal life and keep monsters from her. Which, given his track record with romantic partnerships is rather wise. Or not. Hmm.
-"I knew I smelled dog!" Heee! He's kept an even keel through Sam going on about leaving hunting and it's not his problem any more and all that, but a dog in the Impala and it's snarling time.
-"You don't take a joint from a guy named Don." Well there's a fic prompt for someone if I ever heard one.
-"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."/"Try me." He did spend most of the last two seasons screwed up beyond recognition from a stay in Lucifer's cage, so... *shrug* Maybe? Seriously though, there needs to be a therapist specializing in Hunter issues. I'm thinking one of the primary reasons the Roadhouse became a thing was the freelance group therapy among Hunters, along with the plentiful booze.
-"There was something about being there. Felt pure." Yeah, I can see that. If everything's a monster by definition, there's no need for making moral decisions or judgement calls. At least until one of them saves your butt.
-"I show you the door, you haul my soul to the other side." Simple enough deal and set-up. How many episodes until it all goes south?
-I don't think I often make purely esthetic comments, but damn, make-up did an awesome job on Jensen for this. Well done.
-Right so Kevin's ex isn't interested in helping him, everyone thinks he was on drugs, yeah, yeah, but TIE REPORT: Sam, still has that multi-shaded stripes tie, angling down towards Dean. Dean, SPOTS. SPOTS INSIDE SPOTS. Ho crap. Like, Dean's all balled up inside himself and surrounded by walls. Not a stripe in sight. Dean is really very screwed up and really very pissed off at Sam, and Sam is trying, I think, but it's more complicated than it needs to be. Also, there hasn't been a two-shot with the both of them side by side in ties yet and this makes me nervous. Nervouser.
-Okay, okay, Auxiliary tie report: Dean's tie spots do make stripes of a sort (ties like this make me think they are deliberately messing with me, but then I realize that I'm just insane and really should not attribute the decisions of the costuming department to a plot aimed at me personally :-P), and currently they are angling down toward Sam, but Sam's tie is now sloping down away from Dean, so Dean's also trying but has a hell of a lot more to get past, and their stripes aren't being mutually supportive, no matter which way they stand, so it's all very awkward and cross-purposes and hurt feelings and not-the-whole-truthness just now, which of course it is, because that's what the words were saying before. *nods* Also, Sam's hair needs help. It doesn't look bad, it's actually almost as appealing as the best of his evil soulless hair, but it's also making me nervous, because it's almost as appealing as his evil soulless hair which is never ever a good sign.
-Well, shit. Didn't see that one coming. Dean's hypervigilance is slipping already, but it would be tricky to go around spraying female college students with Holy Water and Borax. Also, can't say as I am terribly disconcerted about the roommate's imminent death as she's picking out dates for her roomie based on their assumed religion and whether they have an 'Asian thing'. Poor Kevin's girlfriend though. She's really got the short end of several sticks here.
-Awwwwww. I have no doubt Jared had no problem acting upset that he'd hit a dog with a car. Poor wubbie.
-"It's for me? Seriously?" Awwwwwww. Brings to mind the question of what Dean ate while in Purgatory, but thoughts along those lines rapidly get disturbing. Still, if you want Dean to forgive you, cheeseburgers are a reliable place to start. He's like a LOLcat that way.
-"Dude, it's a burger."/"It's treasure." Yes indeed. I repeat, Awwwwwwww.
-"That is spectacular work. Any chance I can get that in English?" I am half-pleased that I understood Sam's technobabble, and also half-concerned.
-The location scouts on this show need to be sent cookies and baskets of happiness.
-YES! SOMEONE FINALLY HAD A HOLY WATER SUPER-SOAKER!!! OR BORAX SUPER-SOAKER!!! WHATEVER!! GO KEVIN!!! \o/ (Kevin also looks very different with a haircut.)
-"Cliff notes: I went to Purgatory, Sam hit a dog." Yeah, that about sums it up.
-God showed him how to trap demons. Greeeeat. Helpful, yes, but nervous-making.
-"First they took me to a warehouse." No, actually, it seems that the very first thing they did was take you to a Supercuts, since your hair's a good several inches shorter in this flashback than it was in 7.23. It's a little known factoid that demons aren't fond of floppy hair because it hides eye color. Or something. Yeah. *handwaves hair continuity issue*
-Hi Crowley! Whatcha up to?
-"Look at you, haircut, manicure, pedicure. Like a new penny." Yay, they wrote the hair discontinuity into the script! Handwave retracted! Also, it seems getting kidnapped by demons is a bit like going to a spa. Not that I've had experience with either. O.o
-"How many Words of God are there?"/"I just became a prophet like a year ago." Heee. I like Kevin. I hope whatever's got him doesn't overwrite his personality, because this one's fun and so far quite resilient.
-"Demons." Hm. And the other tablet was Leviathans, so... are these tablets less like the base-code of Creation and more like God's Hunting Journal? O.o
-"Where's Mr. Crowley?"/"Where do you think, dumbass? Wisconsin." Hee. I like the snarky demons. Also, a Hell gate in Wisconsin, imagine that. Being able to remote open it from wherever they're at is handy.
-Oh ho, little smirk, I see you. Sooooo, fake making a remote Open Hell Gate spell but actually make something that's going to vaporize every demon in a hundred yard radius or something, because no one but you can read the rock. And fool Crowley in the process. GO KEVIN!!! \o/
-Niiiiice. That'll come in handy.
-Crowley is going to be SO pissed when he figures out a human kid pulled one over on him. His underlings will ridicule him for eons. XD
-"Only the stuff about closing the Gates of Hell. Forever." DUUUUUUUUUUUDE!!! First segment of season arc has been spotted, and it is excellent. \o/
-"Banish all demons off the face of the Earth and lock them away forever. That could be important, right?" *gleeeeee*
-"There's no way that Kevin's getting out of this intact, is there?" Considering he's spent a year on the run from demons and has something in his head that let's him read God's diary, I don't think that was ever an option once you guys hammered on the ancient artifact and got him zapped.
-"So, free will, that's only for you?" Oooohohohoho. Sam, seriously, what? Considering Dean spent a year in Purgatory very recently, not at his own will, while you ditched on hunting and didn't so much as answer your phone when Kevin needed help, I really think you should shut the hell up.
-"Killed our mother, killed Jess." Aw, yay season one call-back. And, no surprise, I'm totally siding with Dean. And and, Kevin seems to be a damned tough cookie, all things considered.
-'Sorry for abandoning you to the demons, I needed to clear my head.' Oh this apology is not going well. Sam, dude, just- *facepalm*
-And I'd like to add a little spontaneous love note for whoever chose this framing and angle. *draws hearts*
-"It gets better." Sam, aside from your world-class inability to lie convincingly, and the fact that it has been getting nothing but worse for you since you were nine and you found out your dad hunted monsters, your recent 'fuck it all, I'm going to stick my head in the normal life sand box and let other people handle the icky parts for a while' really doesn't speak well to the whole 'it gets better' idea.
-"You know I'm not gay, right?" *facepalm* Arg.
-"Maybe if you were such an upstanding guy you wouldn't have hit him in the first place?" I'm thinking this would be Sam's girlfriend, yeah? Didn't get a clear look at her in the dark, but it seems to be trending in that direction.
-Sudden earthquakes in Iowa. Not a good sign.
-Well that's one way of getting around a Devil's trap.
-Sam, there are demons coming, you can look at Dean's shiny new toy later. Not sure how good it will be against demons, but considering it's physical matter that came from Purgatory, I suspect it might be kinda funky.
-I'm finding it funny that in this particular fight with demons, Kevin's the one who gets the first effective hit in.
-Darn. No getting to see how the Purgatory blade does against demons this round.
-Whoops, here comes round two? Not tactically smart, outing your operative in Kevin's ex-girlfriend, but since the boys and Crowley now know where Kevin is, she's not a strategically significant person to possess... eeeexcept as a potential way to get Kevin to cooperate if Crowley threatens her structural integrity or offers to have his flunky evacuate (which considering from the forensic evidence in her dorm it looks like she slit her roommate's throat so it really wouldn't be doing her any favors to send her back to stand trial in Michigan, which may not have the death penalty, but it sure wouldn't be a fun life for a very very long time, but Kevin et al don't know that).
-"Where's your angel?"/"Ask your mother." Pfffft, that made me laugh far harder than was appropriate.
-"Moose! Still with the pork chops! Admire that." When the King of Hell admires your hairstyle, particularly your Sideburns of Evil, maybe it's time for a haircut, hmm?
-"And I'll let the girl go back to 'What's the point?' U." Hehehe, yeah. Bargaining chip, and Crowley making a deal that seems a heck of a lot better than it really is.
-"He's lying. You won't get Channing back, she's probably dead already." Dean of course knows Crowley's up to something, but not the details, although even if she isn't dead and wanted for the messy slaughter of her roommate, spending a significant amount of time possessed by a demon has probably not done her sanity any favors.
-She really is a very pretty girl. And considering she's just blown past three 'who the hell is this strange man's and one 'where the heck am I?' and no doubt a few 'omg I slit someone's throat's to focus on Kevin, she really does still like if not love him. Whiiiich means she's thoroughly hooped no matter which way she goes. Yep, doomed. She did make it to the new season though, which is more than I thought she would at the end of season 7, so go Channing!
-"There's a demon in you and you're going to your safety school."/"What?!" Why do I get the feeling the horrified 'what?!' is less for the demon and more for the safety school? The horror you understand has the greatest impact. You know, if this demon has had her since Kevin went missing, it probably had her during finals and totally screwed up her college plans. Damn demons! *fistshake*
-And of course Kevin goes for it. Somewhere on that rock about demons there should be a 'detect bullshit' spell. Or the data point that they are always speaking bullshit, and every deal is a bad one. Uuuuunless he knows that and is pulling one over on Crowley again, which if he does, Crowley's underlings might start getting restive.
-"This ain't over Crowley."/"*something about a marshmallow???*" Seriously, I've run that bit back 5 times and I cannot discern what Crowley's saying there. Something snarky I'll assume.
-"C'mon Kevin! Chop chop!"/*silence*/"Kevin?" Heheheheeee. Twice. Twice Crowley. You are rapidly losing your demon cred.
-Ooo, Crowley can make Ruby's demon-killing knife go burny. Hm. Makes sense, I mean if a demon made it, the king of demons should either be immune to it or be able to influence it.
-"Sam! Dean! Run!" Okay, Kevin needs to stop being so awesome. No wait, he totally doesn't. GO KEVIN! \o/
-"Find another meat suit." Oh god. And then the slow-mo and tragic music kicks in as they pass the porch. Never a good sign.
-Oh, and of course Sam and Kevin are both on that side of the car, framed in the shot by the Impala windows oh so perfectly, because now the 'demons killed my girlfriend' support group has a brand new member, doesn't it? Clever. Clever clever show.
-(Though really, given their track record with the 'kill a loved one' technique of intimidation and the way it seems to jump-start hunting careers instead of dissuade people from decades-spanning revenge quests, you'd think demons might have clued in by now that it's not an effective deterrent at all. :-P)
-"Wrong number. Automated jackass." Why am I suddenly paranoid about that? Unless it wasn't really a wrong number but Dean's vampire buddy calling. Nice that Sam kept Dean's phone up in that case, since he would have given him the number in Purgatory before they left. I'm over-thinking this, aren't I?
-"Kevin? How you holding up?"/"Awesome. The King of Hell just snapped my girlfriend's neck, how about you?" See? He's practically a Winchester already.
-Yeah, probably not a good time to mention what happened with Jessica. Maybe later when Kevin feels more like talking it out and less like punching the nearest face.
-"You're in it now, whether you like it or not. That means you do what you gotta do. I'm hitting the head." Pfffft! Yes, well, if you've gotta do that, you've gotta do that. Enjoy the hell out of indoor plumbing, which is not as much of a guaranteed thing when you're on the road or in Purgatory. That aside, Dean's little speech sounds quite like a John Winchester pep-talk there does it not?
-And speaking of John Winchester, yet again, Dean using a trip to the bathroom to make a surreptitious phone call. Not to John this time though unless some major stuff happened in Purgatory we don't know about yet, probably to the huggable vampire.
-Yep. And he's at a funeral. Interesting.
-"A lot's changed in 50 years." So the huggable vampire (who needs a name soon because this is getting silly) was last on the Earth in 1962, and also has an occasion flash of accent from... Louisiana? Noting that in case it's important later.
-"So many choices." *facepalm* Vampires. Reinterpreting the notion of a 'funeral buffet'.
-"Listen, Benny-" Ahhhh, the huggable vampire's name is Benny. That's where that odd note I mentioned in the spoiler section comes in. Definitely not Benedict Cumberbatch in Purgatory. Of course. *nods* (Hmm... Would the Creature end up in Purgatory when he died? *ponders* Sorry, spurious crossover reference.)
-Yep. Doing what they had to do to get out. Does a Vampire who's been to Purgatory and returned still have the same weaknesses as a regular vampire, or is it like a double-jeopardy thing, where he can't be killed the same way a second time? Because I think we all know where this pragmatic alliance of Dean's is most likely to end up.
-"Purgatory was purer. I kinda wish I had appreciated it more, y'know?" Yeah, because really, in Purgatory, you go around ripping out random throats, you're just doing what everyone else would if they got the chance, no one blinks or calls the cops or splatters the incident in the papers, alerting hunters who would track you down and decapitate you. Whereas Earth, the need to keep a low profile in order to survive makes ripping people's throats out a much harder proposition.
Well, an interesting start to the season, with a lot of plot elements and potential season arcs launching. *ponders*
I can however see that I'm going to need to really alter my reaction post making methods, because the current rate and way I'm doing these is not workable with my current work schedule. So, the next two catch-up reaction posts, for those few of you who read these, will be experiments in methodology, and more than likely considerably shorter. In theory. We'll see how that goes. :-P
(PLEASE, NO REFERENCES TO EPISODES PAST 8.01 IN COMMENTS! I'm catching up as fast as I can, two more to go!)