Playthings & Nightshifter

[feliciakw]

I made a couple comments about "Playthings" last year, and again, I don't really have a whole lot to add.



I like this one. Good, solid stand-alone case but with back story and character developments.

I'd waited since the beginning for them to do something with voodoo or hoodoo. This isn't exactly what I had in mind (I want an all-out trip to New Orleans), but it's a start.

I love the classic haunted hotel, and the twists in the case.

I figure they were watching The Shining when they wrote this one. That bar/dining room is clearly Shining inspired.

And of course we have the key exchange in the ep, wherein Sam, in a drunken stupor, makes Dean promise to kill him (Sam) if Sam ever becomes something not!Sam. They just keep piling on the angst, and poor Dean's got no choice but to carry on (wayward son).



Nightshifter

Now, I did do a fairly thorough write-up of this one last year.

Another favorite amongst the people I know, with a great case (both supernatural and non-), delightful guest character(s), and more angst and oh!noez!

Oh, Ronald. We hardly knew ye. You would have been great in R&D, and I was going to hook you up with Ash when this was over. Y'all would have geeked out together something fierce. (Ronald kind of reminds me of some of the guest characters in N3.)

Ah, Hendricksen. I learned to love you, but here, you scare me. Well, you scare me for Dean.

Oh, Dean. You just can't catch a break, can you. And the look on your face, your body language, when the SWAT guy finds you with the dead 'shifter. You know what's waiting for you, don't you. You're resigned to not having much of a future. Lucky for you, the SWAT guy is really your brother with an escape plan.

And Sam. Oh, Sam. Knowing your brother is a wanted felon. Knowing y'all are trapped like rats with no way out. You're becoming quite a force to be reckoned with, what with taking out not one, but two SWAT guys, then scaring your brother by showing up in disguise before the two of you make your escape.

*cue Styx*
*cue me flailing*

Comments

[girlyghoul70.livejournal.com]

Playthings is a fav! I'm trying to remember, but I'm pretty sure I knew that Maggie was either a ghost or an imaginary playmate from the get go. I think I was a little thrown when both girls ran past the boys. But it was not a huge gasp for me when it's "revealed" that Maggie is "imaginary". And dang, but she's a mean little girl! I liked the ending sort of, because it gave Rose some power when she mostly had none. She was able to save her daughter and granddaughter even though it cost her her life- so we get good oogie feelings for Rose. However, I think it would have been more satisfying for the boys to vanquish Maggie... because like I said- she was a MEAN! LITTLE! GIRL!

And people... they do NOT look like Antiquers! Sure it gave them a good cover when they wanted to look at the doll collection. But just walking in the door, no they DON'T look like antiquers! SHEEZ!

And I know Felicia's not happy with Sam's drunken diatribe. But I still love "You're Bossy!... and Short!" Though he definitely deserved the "Greasy pork chop served in a dirty ash tray" He got back.

NightShifter- Not one of my favs, though I'm not sure why. It's got everything I love in it... (surprise twists, lovable characters, Hendericksen as a baddie) but not one of my Go-To's. Hmm. Really not sure why.

I caught a little of this today and mainly saw Sam's "Jan Brady" scene where he's trapped in the vault while someone gushes about his perfect older brother. Hee! Two more seconds and he would have been stomping his foot going "All I ever hear about is Dean! Dean! Dean!" MA HA!

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

It's not that I don't like Sam's drunken demands per se. More like it just hurts. Both for Sam, who thinks he has to save as many people as he can before he goes dark side, and for Dean, watch Sam suffer and make promises he knows he can't keep.

Ya know?

As far as Maggie goes . . . yes, she was a mean little ghost, but I can almost understand why--having been kept away (rather than put to rest) and wanting a playmate and knowing she'd be left alone. I imagine she'd rather have her sister than her great-niece anyway. And Rose gets to be with the sister she lost.

I just noticed yesterday that at the very end? The blonde curly haired doll is looking toward a little brunette doll, like Maggie is glad to have her sister again.

The thing about Maggie is that she starts out as being this very mean ghost, but ends up being just a lonely, lost, angry little girl (who drowns people and pushes them down the stairs and hangs them. So there is that).

[girlyghoul70.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I still gotta go with the Mean Little Girl theory. There had to have been some reason the Hoodoo Nanny was keeping her away and Rose continued to do so for so many years. She must have been causing trouble from the get-go. She not only killed innocent folks who were just trying to do their jobs, but she was ready to kill her nieces and/or hold them hostage until her sister agreed to give up her own life to keep her company.

She may have been a sad little girl ghost who died young and tragic and just didn't want to be alone. But then you get into that slippery slope of "Well, Jason Voorhees was just a poor little kid who drowned", "Candyman was just a tragic victim of a lynch mob", "Hannibal Lecter was just a little hungry", etc. Nah. She was a Mean Little Girl!

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

You do have a point about the nanny, so maybe Maggie was causing mischief and Nanny didn't want it to escalate. But for future reference, perhaps the Winchesters should hold classes on how to put restless spirits to rest, rather than just warding them off and making them even more restless . . . and angry . . . and murderous.

Hey, Candyman was the tragic victim of a lynch mob . . . who grew angry and murderous and iirc obsessed with someone not his girl, and he needed to be put down.

Hannibal Lecter is in a different class, though. He's alive and kickin' and human and cannibalistic. Brilliant, but sociopathic. And outside the Winchester mission statement. Now, if he ever becomes an angry spirit, then yeah, they can toast him.

Jason . . . Well . . . are we talking ghost Jason of the original series, or not-so-ghost Jason of the remake? Because depending on which version we're talking about will determine the approach.

And speaking of restless spirits, this story (http://apocalypsos.livejournal.com/1132238.html) will make your heart a little hurty.

[leelust.livejournal.com]

Sam's drunken demand? Not good but it was in his mind so i'm ok with it. Sam's sober remonding of it? Ugly. But again somehow underdstandable if they'd keep it in mind and didn't retcon later *sigh*

Nightshifter is a win. No doubt there. Ron there is great and i was so upset they killed him (what a waste of a good character even if i get why they did it and how it was needed).
The song in the end and their escape? That's the old good showe i fell in love with.

[gatorpez.livejournal.com]

One thing I didn't like about Playthings is that part of it seems like a rip-off of Dead in the Water (saving the kid from water, with a very similar coming out of the water scene), and considering this was only season 2, I thought it was too early to be copying something from another episode.

Loved, loved Nightshifter - Ronald, Henrickson!

I have to tell you a story about Styx: I went to an NFL playoff game a couple of years ago (it was after Nightshifter had aired) and the band singing the National Anthem was Styx, and I'm like "seriously?" Styx does not seem like a band that you would get to do the National Anthem. Well, it turns out the real reason they were there was to play "Renegade." Apparently, during the season, the video/audio guy/people would play Renegade while showing big hits the defense would put on the opposing team on the JumboTron. So, after the National Anthem, they played Renegade, and holy crap, the entire stadium went nuts, everyone was up on their feet, singing and dancing...I'm probably the only one in the stadium who was smiling and singing along for an entirely different reason...and I was picturing Dean at the end of the episode, as he pulls his ski mask off. :-)

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I didn't dislike the water rescue, but I had the same thought, like "Oh, it's Sam's turn to pull a kid from the water."

The thing about Styx for me is that I'm so familiar with Renegade that when I hear their other music, it seems so different--more rock ballad-y--and Geo always has to remind me who I'm listening to.

That's awesome about the mini-concert. :-)