Mystery Spot, Jus in Bello, Ghostfacers

[feliciakw]

"Mystery Spot" (aka The Groundhog Day episode) is another one of my favorites of the season--a strong mix of humor and angst, painful grief and great brother moments. And we get a look at what Sam will become without Dean.

However, upon re-watch, this is another episode that makes the Trickster/Gabriel reveal extremely problematic. Not only do we have the character pitilessly manipulating humans into their own demise, but we now have exposition that makes zero sense in light of the fact that the Trickster knew who Sam and Dean are (i.e., Lucifer and Michael's vessels respectively). If the end goal is for Sam and Dean to say yes to Lucifer and Michael, then what was all that exposition at the end? "This is what life is going to be like without Dean." What purpose does that serve Gabester? If Ruby hired the Trickster to toughen Sam up for the fight, that makes sense. But exactly what lesson was Sam supposed to learn here? "Dean's your weakness. The bad guys know it, too." That sounds like a warning. But who exactly are the bad guys? The demons? The angels? And why does it matter? Gabe says in "Changing Channels" that he isn't taking sides, he doesn't care who wins, he just wants it to be over. So what's the frelling purpose of the time loop in light of that? What "lesson" is he trying to teach Sam? Is he just doing it for kicks? "This stopped being fun months ago. I'm out of it." What's that supposed to mean? And ret-conning the Trickster into Gabriel doesn't make this informaion clearer; it makes it pointless.

I still enjoy this ep the way it was originally presented, and independent of S5. It's just that now it serves to highlight how out of touch Show became with the cryptic clues it laid along the way. Grrr.

But we did get a Huey Lewis song, and I about bounced off the couch. \o/



"Jus in Bello" rounds out the trio of favorite eps from this season. Watching it last night, Geo commented that Sera Gamble wrote some really strong eps. Yes, said I. "Is she still with the show?" he asks. "She's the new showrunner," says I.

This is a great episode in all the right ways. The action and tension are edge-of-your-seat, and the guest characters shine. I was so disappointed with Henricksen's fate; I was so hoping they'd have an in-the-know ally in law enforcement.

And I just loved Nancy. So much so that I wrote fic.

I love that Nancy represents something almost completely foreign to Dean's experience, and he values that and protects it as precious. I love Dean's plan, and the mass exorcism.

I also think that Mystery Spot and JiB are two more eps that were saved by serendipity. Originally, JiB was to air first, followed by Mystery Spot. Which would make Sam's willingness to consider sacrificing Nancy make no sense. But after six months without Dean, six months of being the pragmatic hunter, now it does make sense. Doesn't make it pleasant, but does make sense.

And Ruby. I'm trying to figure out if it's the way Kate was playing the role, or if the writers just didn't know what they wanted to do with her. Sure, she offers to kill herself to save them. But when they come up with a viable alternative, she bails. Why? Because if she stuck around, she'd be exorcised, too. And we only have her word that the spell would have killed her. It just seems very convenient that she bailed when she did.

At the end, when Ruby is reaming them out, and Dean glances upward in helplessness, Geo commented, "Dean just can't catch a break, can he." No kidding.



As a one-shot dealy, I actually rather like "Ghostfacers." Last night, it was the one that Geo wanted to watch (he originally asked to skip JiB, but I said no). We both find the dialogue, the send-up of Ghost Hunters, and the posery (is that a word?) of the GFs to be pretty darn hilarious. Take, for example, their opening "slo mo" walk . . . with at regular speed cars passing in the background.

I also like this ep as a outside POV of The Guys. We who are in the know, know what Sam means when he tells Dean, "You've got two months left," but it makes things interesting when Spruce starts asking him about it.

I also love the opening credits, and the real credits being placed at the end.

I know this ep received a lot of flack when it aired: it was the first ep back after the WGA strike, and a good portion of the fandom wanted something insightful and juicy. But I gotta say, this ep kinda cracked me up.

Comments

[girlyghoul70.livejournal.com]

I LOVE Mystery Spot. It's one of Godson's favs too, easily the go-to episode if we need to keep him entertained and out of our hair... except that we then get absorbed in watching it too. HEH!

One thing I love watching a lot is Dean has to say the same lines over and over- but in different contexts. The lines he says on the first Wed. he says kinda flipantly 'cause he's ready to head out the door (and get shot!!!) The second Wed which for Sam is months apart from the first, he senses his brother's distraught mood and says the same lines, but in a more concerned and cautious way. AWWWW!

The second part of this episode is so sad. Not only because of what Sam becomes without his brother. But also walking out the door at the end with the Trickster's message that he can't save his Bro. And as far as matching this up withh what was revealed in S5- it just doesn't match. Not at all. As much of S5 turned out.

I'm actually starting to wonder if S5 is going to turn out to be one of those things we just don't mention. We just turn away and stick our fingers in our ears and go la la la when the subject comes up. Like Temple of Doom and St. Anger. Because even though there were enjoyable moments, most of what was revealed in S5 becomes like finding jigsaw puzzle pieces of a picture of Mt. Rushmore mixed in with a puzzle depicting an underwater scene The pieces might fit if you pound 'em in hard enough- but the overall puzzle will look pretty stupid when you're done.

All that said, I'm actually trying to work on a fic where Young Gabe gets a lesson very similar to the one he was trying to teach Sam in this episode. So, at the end of the fic, it might seem that this is where he got the idea to play such a Trick on Sam. It's still not going to justify any plot holes in the Show's storyline. (And that's not my aim anyway) But it would hopefully seem like a wink wink, nudge nudge, Bob's yer Uncle nod to this episode.

I love Jus in Bello too. Sad for Hendericksen- he finally got likable but it was not to be. Sad for Nancy and the rest. But them boys are so clever. This was of course one of those "Oh snap! How they gonna get out of this one!" episodes. And yet they did get out. Just sadly, the innocents did not. Hmm... but it DID lead them to trust Ruby more since she could go "I was right and you were wrong! Why don't you listen to me next time!" Tricksy! Tricksy Ruby. And yeah, maybe at this point in the show they DIDN'T know where Ruby's storyline would end up. But THIS is the way to make it all match. Ruby's Underwater Puzzle doesn't have bits of George Washington's wig or Lincoln's beard floating in it like Gabe/Trickster's does.

Ghostfacers... Oh I hate it! HATE IT! I don't have the time to go into all the reasons why. I know it's a polarizing episode and I'm on the hate side of the spectrum. So, that's all there is to say about that.

In conclusion YAY Mystery Spot!