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

[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. :-)