SPN: Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things and Simon Said

[snick_backup]

Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things

*wails*

Yeah, this is the Dean's-grief episode I'd been looking for. Or one of them, anyway. And yet I find I have nothing to say. It's all too close. Except that last scene? Killed me. The pulling off on the side of the road, and Dean apologizing, and the look on his face as he says, "Now tell me, Sam, what could you possibly say to that make all right?" Ohhh! *wails some more*

Simon Said
And the trend continues: Dean gets character development, Sam gets plot. I'm not complaining on the Dean end of the story; he's got enough going on with him already and plot would just clutter things. (Yanno, like with Spike and the brainwashing in S7.) I wouldn't mind getting to know Sam a bit better underneath, though.

I find myself rather liking Andy, despite his habit of using his abilities to get whatever he wants. I think it's largely because what he wants just isn't very much. And also because he finishes off his mind-control spiel with "These are not the droids you're looking for," because how can you not love that? Also, "I have an evil twin?"

And he has Sam's phone number, so maybe we'll hear from him again.

Also that was a great bit when he gets Dean to spill his guts, and with a smile. Yikes. When you can't get your characters to talk any other way, apply magic. (Or song.) Tried and true tactic. The boys are going to have to deal with that unwilling confession of Dean's, sooner or later.

I would like to point out to Sam that if everybody can be pushed into killing, then he has no more or less to fear than anyone else the demon might target.

Aaand we tell Ellen all about everything. Good, probably; we're in need of allies. This lone hero business is a very fragile existence without some backup. (With Ash just a phone call away, I wonder if we'll ever see Sam with a laptop again?)

Two very solid episodes. *nod*

Comments

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

When Dean gets a load of the cheesy van, THAT is my very favorite use of his signature "awesome". Especially since he might not even say the word, but it's in the delivery anyway. Just sayin'.

[snickfic]

Especially since he might not even say the word, but it's in the delivery anyway.

Heh. Sometimes delivery is everything.

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

Simon Said! I love that episode, and I liked Andy, too. You're making me want to do a rewatch.

*Spoiler Alert!*

You will get to see Sam with a laptop again. ;-)

[snickfic]

Oh, good. I'd sort of liked watching him be researchy; it's weird having them depend on someone else for all that sort of thing. It wasn't like Sam ever seemed to have trouble finding what they needed to find.

[ghostyouknow27.livejournal.com]

I love "Simon Said!" I think it probably is hard to make someone who controls people likable, but then there's the fact that Andy uses his powers to get friends concert tickets and that he never thought-controls his lady crush. Plus, he's so darn nerdy! And he makes Dean give him the Impala!

[snickfic]

I think it's the affable nerdiness that wins the day. Andy's like Warren Mears' good twin.

And anything that messes with Dean in a non-angsty, non-life-threatening way is a good thing. (Oh, let's be honest. Anything that messes with Dean in the other ways is probably good, too.)

[silverusagi]

I love Andy. I love the scene where Sam and Dean are in the car and Andy gets Dean talking, and Sam tells him to shut up, and Dean's like, "I'm trying," and then at the end, he just facepalms.

"Tell me the truth!"
"We hunt demons."

And I also love when Sam gets out of the car and says that it doesn't work on him. He uses his height as a definite advatange as he spreads his arms and just LOOMS over Andy, who's sort of freaking out that he can't control Sam.

[snickfic]

Yeah. The entire spill-the-beans scene was pretty fabulous. But thank goodness Sam was immune; it would have descended too far into humiliation comedy otherwise.

And YES to the looming. It keeps hitting me, over and over: Sam Winchester does not exist on the same scale as regular human beings.

[gryfndor-godess.livejournal.com]

And the trend continues: Dean gets character development, Sam gets plot.

Huh, I hadn't noticed that pattern, and it's totally right. Sam's story drives the plot, and Dean's story is the heart of it. I know from looking at the episode guide with the DVDs that Sam splits off in a few episodes, and I imagine (hope) there's more emotional development with Sam then.

(Yanno, like with Spike and the brainwashing in S7.)

God yes. I can understand wanting to show that having a soul doesn't make Spike perfect, but we already know from Willow etc. that souls don't stop you from committing evil acts and the reasoning behind Spike's brainwashing is just...ugh. Too much stuff shoved into his head that season. Only saving grace is how it shows just how much Buffy cares and is willing to do for him.

[snickfic]

Sam's story drives the plot, and Dean's story is the heart of it.

This doesn't really lessen down the road, though it becomes less clear-cut than it is right now. I find it a very interesting structure, especially since they don't really any attention to it. Also because way back in the pilot and the first few episodes thereafter, the show is so clearly from *Sam's* POV. Interesting that they turned that around so fast; I don't know if they intended it all along or if they changed their minds about how the show was working.

Yeah, I have negative and uncomplicated feelings about BtVS S7. I like: Andrew, Anya, Dawn, the Beneath You church scene, Sleeper, and Potential. And that's pretty much it.

ETA: Did I miss you talking about Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things?