SPN: In the Time of My Dying, Everybody Loves a Clown, and Bloodlust

[snick_backup]

On to S2! I will say this: already quite an improvement with the titles.

In the Time of My Dying

*wails*

I feel like this ep deserves a rewatch and a whole post of its own, and it's not going to get one. So.

* I'm genuinely sorry to see John go.
* I loved the whole Dean-and-his-out-of-body-experience subplot.
* Loved watching the others interact around him; those kind of visual disconnected-yet-not shenanigans always make me giddy.
* Loved the explanation for where angry spirits come and watching Dean struggle with deciding if he was willing to risk going that route. (Clearly this needs to be a fic, where Dean chooses to stick around and tries to help things and is constantly paranoid about going crazy. Could be dark or sad or... whatever.)
* Was a little iffy about how they reworked the reaper mythology; the one in "Faith" was my single favorite spook of S1, and I'm not sure I buy this "they can look however they want" business.
* Loved how they continued what we saw in "Devil's Trap," that Sam's rethinking his priorities, revenge vs. life
* So Dean really got his "I'm proud of you" from his dad after all. It felt a little weird the second time around.
* The slow-mo at the end, and the time of death given as the screen goes black, was very nicely done indeed.
* So John said something to Dean. Which we are then going to not be told for however many episodes. This show really does get on my nerves sometimes with the way it withholds info from the audience, as if that were the only way to generate suspense. Feh.

Overall: Quite a strong episode, and thematically and emotionally a very nice end to the mini-arc begun in "Salvation."

Everybody Loves a Clown
Yanno, when Scully and Mulder did the carney episode? That was funny. One of my favorites of the whole series (of what I watched, anyway).

This? Was not funny. Or much of anything, really. The actual plot here was basically irrelevant to the bits I actually cared about, which were:

* Jo, Ellen, Ash. Like Ellen - yay for another source of information. Like Ash (who, early in his career, was Dave in "I Robot, You Jane" - I knew I recognized him from somewhere), because my weakness for eccentric geniuses knows no bounds. Am ambivalent about Jo. She pulled a gun on Dean, which never fails to amuse, but the "gal takes no nonsense from Dean but is won over anyway" trope is already stale, particularly since they've yet to do it well. I can't see that there's anything else to her yet.

* Dean/Impala. Dean trying to fix his world by fixing the Impala. Dean pulling the strong silent act, which he's always pretending at but has never played in earnest before. OH DEAN.

But the clown stuff was pretty stupid.

Bloodlust
This ep clearly wanted to be so much, and it failed so badly. It wanted to be about Dean dealing with his grief, about Dean having his worldview turned outside out and his father's basic life purpose questioned, about how living according to absolutes is bad, about the civil rights of vampires, about the man Charles Gunn might have become and didn't (for which we are all grateful).

And it made a hash of every one of them. Gosh dang it. This had better not be the only ep in which the Winchesters face the moral complexity of what they do, because that's a theme that deserves a thorough, well-written treatment, and this wasn't it.

What it did manage to get right about Dean's grief was heartbreaking. Dean, confessing his grief to a total stranger when he won't tell Sam. "Gotta keep my game face on." Argh. You silly lost grieving person, Dean. That's exactly what you don't have to do. ['Course, it's pretty clear that whatever John told him is also screwing with his head. All the more reason that this is not the episode to also try and enact AN ENTIRE WORLDVIEW SHIFT, YOU RIDICULOUS SHOW.]

In other things, it turns out that after Tara got turned, she changed her name and hair color, but otherwise stayed pretty much the same. And seriously, did someone sit down and say, "Hey, let's swipe Gunn's entire backstory, cast a black man in the role, and then make him crazy. That'll make it original and stuff"? 'Cuz the similarities were uncanny.

Comments

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

See, you're starting to feel the Dean/Impala now, aren't you? ;-)

[snickfic]

I was totally thinking of you during that ep. Yes. :)

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

So John said something to Dean. Which we are then going to not be told for however many episodes.
They won't wait *too* long, if I recall correctly. I love that whole episode, really. Except the kinda weird expression on John's face when he tells Dean The Big Thing.

Honestly, the only thing that sticks out to me with the clown episode is the planes vs. clowns line and Dean beating the crap out of the Impala.

Heh. I never thought about Gordon being a crazier Gunn. I think the conversation Sam and Dean have at the end of the episode is pretty interesting, though.

[snickfic]

I love that whole episode, really.

It was quite the solid episode, not to mention aimed to hit my buttons. I mean, I do not always the angsty Dean-centric episodes more than anything, but there is definitely a trend.

I do like the planes vs. clowns conversation. You know, in general I quite enjoy the banter, but it usually doesn't stick with me the way other things do.

I never thought about Gordon being a crazier Gunn.

It's uncanny. They lifted Gunn's whole story: sister vamped, brother kills vamped sister, brother goes on a vengeance-fueled vamp hunt. Only this guy went it alone instead of forming a posse, and he just kept getting meaner as he went. *shivers*

[silverusagi]

Annnnnd this is how the show solved the problem of "John's off doing interesting things, why isn't he with the boys?" That said, it does really kickstart the mytharc.

The reaper thing is sort of a retcon, but there you go. Reapers look like people now.

As for what John said, since you're watching on DVD, you should get there fairly quickly. Though I'm sure it was long ad drawn out seeming when the show aired.

This had better not be the only ep in which the Winchesters face the moral complexity of what they do, because that's a theme that deserves a thorough, well-written treatment

I'd have to partially disagree. In the SPN world, the monsters are pretty much monsters. Lenore was a great exception, IMO. Most of the things the hunters hunt are little better than animals, and do nothing but kill people. It's not really like BtVS where we get all these harmless demons and vampires that can be good. There are some cases where we have more intelligent, human like monsters, and then we have the whole "What's up with Sam, he has powers, is he bad like the things they hunt" thing, but most of the things the Winchesters hunt really do seem to live for nothing but killing.

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

There are some cases where we have more intelligent, human like monsters, and then we have the whole "What's up with Sam, he has powers, is he bad like the things they hunt" thing, but most of the things the Winchesters hunt really do seem to live for nothing but killing.
There are a few monsters who get a little wiggle room, in that they're empathetic, but they ultimately turn out evil. Lenore's a rare exception.

[silverusagi]

The most exploration we get of fuzzy morality is with the YED's "projects", I think.

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

Excuse me while I go sob quietly for Moby Dick.

[snickfic]

Annnnnd this is how the show solved the problem of "John's off doing interesting things, why isn't he with the boys?"

I rather had the idea that the show was always aiming for this. John being alive and apart from the boys seemed not so much a problem as just a temporary state of affairs while they worked up to killing him.

I'd have to partially disagree. In the SPN world, the monsters are pretty much monsters.

I guess maybe I'd like some explanation as to why, then. Why is all the supernatural stuff evil? Is it something a violation of the natural order of life? If we must have ghosts and wendigos and rakshasas, couldn't we have brownies, too? (These are rhetorical; I don't need you answer them.)

[silverusagi]

Just me thinking here--but I guess it's because the show draws on urban legends and fairy tales and just plain legends. All of which pretty much have the theme of "there ARE things in the dark, and they WILL get you." Except of course in SPN the things are real. Whereas I think BtVS used monsters more as metaphors for what the characters were facing. (Not that SPN doesn't do this to some extent.) Though there might be something to the natural order thing, since most of the things hunters hunt were once human but have lost all of their humanity by transformation and become something else. Ghosts, vampires, wendigos, etc.

Re: brownies: Sure, pick the ONE kind of fairy that doesn't want to eat you, steal your children, or lead you into a swamp, LOL.

[snickfic]

Sigh. But the supernatural ought to be cool, at least some of the time. I mean, if we have a world with wendigos, then I don't see why we can't have the Blue Lady, too. Not All myths and urban legends are icky.

Don't mind me. I'm just grumpy. :)

[silverusagi]

But the supernatural ought to be cool, at least some of the time.

CASTIEL.

:)

[snickfic]

*eyeroll*

I'm not sure any character is capable of living up to this much hype. ;)

[silverusagi]

Probably not.

There's always Gabriel, though. :) He's capable of anything.

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

If we must have ghosts and wendigos and rakshasas, couldn't we have brownies, too? (These are rhetorical; I don't need you answer them.)
I think humanity itself is the good thing that's supposed to balance out all the supernatural evil? Which is depressing, but pretty close to how it worked on Buffy, too (Buffy's strength was in her humanity, even though she was more than human).

[snickfic]

That is depressing. We know all the good stuff already, but there's still extra badness out there we don't know about yet?

You're right, though, that that was the tack BtVS usually took. I just thought SPN might handle it in a more interesting fashion, yanno?

But as I said to goldenusagi, don't mind me; I'm just grumpy. :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

because my weakness for eccentric geniuses knows no bounds.
I know! I adored Ash for exactly this reason!

Dean/Impala. Dean trying to fix his world by fixing the Impala. Dean pulling the strong silent act, which he's always pretending at but has never played in earnest before. OH DEAN.

*giggles maniacally*

OH DEAN was basically my reaction the entire time I watched the show. Sometimes it was exasperated. Sometimes it was fond. Sometimes it was angry. But...it pretty much summed up my reaction to the entire show.

This had better not be the only ep in which the Winchesters face the moral complexity of what they do, because that's a theme that deserves a thorough, well-written treatment, and this wasn't it.


Truth. Although I did write a fic about it that I like to think does a slightly better job....

This entry reminded me of how much I love Gunn.

[snickfic]

OH DEAN was basically my reaction the entire time I watched the show.

Yanno, it isn't that I dislike Sam. I like Sam fine, and I've decided he's pretty cute. But the strongest I ever feel about Sam is a wibbly little, "Aww, Sam." He does not require caps.

Truth. Although I did write a fic about it that I like to think does a slightly better job....

!!!

Can I read it? Or does it have spoilers past where I am?

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way about Sam.

You can read it! And now that I think about it, I don't remember if it handles the worldview questions you were talking about (I don't know why I immediately thought it did; I'm probably thinking of another of my fics), so maybe I talked it up too much. Also I haven't actually reread it in, like, years, so it may be horrible? But it's right here.

*runs off and hopes it isn't bad*

[gryfndor-godess.livejournal.com]

This ep clearly wanted to be so much, and it failed so badly.

Lol, I just spent 30 minutes writing my review for this episode, and now that I've finished and can read your review, I see you just summed it up so much better and more succinctly.

Hee, and I really liked the clown episode, which reminds me of our differing opinions about "Hell House," too. It's funny what appeals to some people and what makes others headdesk.

[snickfic]

Lol, I just spent 30 minutes writing my review for this episode, and now that I've finished and can read your review, I see you just summed it up so much better and more succinctly.

Well, hooray. I'll look forward to your review anyway; you go so much more in-depth than I do. And it's nice to have someone agree with me about that ep; from the comments here, I had the impression that nobody remembered it well enough to have an opinion.