SPN S4 ketchup

[feliciakw]

I feel like I've gotten out of my rhythm for these brief little recaps. I think the last one I made any sort of comment on was "Heaven and Hell." After that, things just sort of continue apace for a while.

Family Remains . . . We see Dean so desperate to make up for what he did in Hell, and no matter what he does, how many people he saves, he can't seem to forgive himself.

Criss Angel . . . Dean resigned to the fight never being over, Sam wanting the fight to be over and survive and going back to Ruby while Dean drinks by himself. The parallel story of one man sacrificing his brother-friend for the greater good, and ending up alone. Good stuff in the ep, but a gut-punch at the end.

After School Special . . . "The whistle makes me their god." 'Nough said.

Well, okay, maybe not. I think kroki_refur expresses it best here.

OH, DEAN. A day may come when we will talk about the AWESOMENESS that is Dean’s completely OTT Full Metal Jacket dodgeball pep talk, but it is not this day. An hour may come when I write letters to Dean questioning his use of the word “cunning”. But it is not this day! This day, we choke on our own laughter! FORTH, EORLINGAS!

And as Geo says, the headband is really what makes the outfit.

You all know that those gym shorts were Jensen's idea, right? As was nailing the kid with the dodge ball. I wrote about that last year.

Plus, we get Dean in a sweatsuit. Bwah!

But on a less shallow level, a deeper level, you might say, we get a glimpse into Sam and Dean's coming-of-age years. And we get Sam's declaration that he's not evil, he's not. We get Mr. Wyatt's final question to Sam: Are you happy?

Sex & Violence . . . More conflict, cards being placed on the table in quite possibly the worst manner possible. Sam continuing in his secret keeping and lies. Dean increasingly at a loss of how to get through to Sam or cope without Sam's honesty or whatever. After what Sam told Dean, I expected them to split up. I was a season early on that prediction, but it eventually did happen.

I even wrote fic about it.

Death Takes a Holiday . . . Sam continuing to lie to Dean, and Dean asking Sam to at least not treat him like he's stupid. Sam and Dean as ghosts. Tessa returns. Dean confessing that he should have gone with her the first time. *sniff* Death of Pamela. *sob* And Alistair is to Dean what Scorpius is to John Creighton. Eek!

Which brings us to . . .

On the Head of a Pin. I haven't re-watched it yet, but this morning I was watching the extended/deleted scene. And duuuuuuudes. Chicas. You must see it if you haven't seen it already. Pay special attention starting at 3:26. And special-special attention starting at 4:36:

As I was watching it today, I was . . . I almost got chills, and my heart rate definitely increased, watching Dean go from grief and fear to the game face of a master interrogator. You can just see the shift, as he tries to bury the former under the veneer of the latter. And I thought, "I don't remember that! I would remember that!" Then I watched the scene as it appears in the ep, and sure enough, they cut that bit out. What a shame. Because with something as subtle as the shift of his eyes and changing the set of his jaw, his presence changes.

Have I mentioned recently how much I love Jensen's acting?

Comments

[girlyghoul70.livejournal.com]

I love Criss Angel: Douchebag- though it is very sad. This is one of those epis that had such richness to the background characters and yet didn't allow them to take over the Show (They saved that for Hammer of the Gods) I loved Jay and his buds. You can imagine they were quite the gallant gang in their youth (not counting the immortal one) They had enough background to make their characters and their motives believable. But in the end it was sad that Jay was so resigned to dying alone. Erm? Dude- Are there no Senior Rec Centers in the area? But of course, he had to be melodramtic and melancholy to convince Sam that DEMON BLOOD is the answer to all life's problems.

After School Special- Another love! Can I just gush on Colin Ford a bit here? I adore that kid! In the Christmas ep, he actually had to play younger than he was and did such a great job with his body language skipping towards his presents like the 8 year old he was supposed to be. This time he had to play older- He wasn't yet a teenager himself then- but he got Teen!Sammy!ANGST down, bless him. I hope they can use him again in the coming Season, but I noticed in Dark Side of the Moon he's going through that voice cracking stage o' life. Next time we see him (if we get to at all) it may be in "Dean teaches Sammy how to shave!" flashbacks. They grow up so fast *sniff!*

Sex & Violence- Yep. LOVE IT! One of my favorite Red Herrings in the Show. Stripper Stripper Stripper Doctor? Whoops! Nope! FBI Guy! A BOY Siren! WOO HOO! I also love Bobby's Wall O' Fake-Out Phones and Kiss the Cook apron. And Sam? Bringin' Sexy Back... fer reals!

Head of Pin- Awww! Dean gets a whumpin both physically and emotionally. And this is obviously the episode that made me think Uriel was the boss all along. And Uriel? You got some s'plainin' to do! Bad boy, siding with Lucifer!

I had written a Song Remains the Same fic from Cas's POV and since he had the knowledge that Uriel would do these things in the future, it made it tricky for me to have Cas be civil towards Uriel and also to not give Uriel so much information that would change these future events. So I had this line of dialogue to cover the tracks:
"Very well," Castiel repeated more tersely towards his kin, "But I hope that you will remember this some 30 years from now when Apocalyptic seals start breaking and we are struggling to keep Lucifer's cage closed and you won't suddenly switch sides and start secretly smiting our siblings or wrecking carefully constructed Devil's Traps while we're trying to interrogate the Demon Alistair!"

Uriel cocked his head and fixed Castiel with a bemused smirk.

"Now who's the funniest angel in the garrison," he snorted, ruffling the younger angel's hair.

All that said, I STILL have to question: Anna killed Uriel in this episode- but then Michael kills Anna in the past in Song Remains the Same. Does that mean Uriel lives in the future since Anna's not around to kill him? Or ... See as much as I love Time Travel these are the things I ponder til I need Advil...

And whoops I skipped Death Takes a Holiday and Family Remains. FR= ICK! DTaH= *sniff!*

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

FBI Guy! A BOY Siren! WOO HOO!

That's what's so fascinating to me. It wasn't actually a "boy siren." Because once the jig is up, the character takes on some rather feminine mannerisms, yes? It's that "she" wanted Dean, but as "she" says, Dean didn't, in his heart of hearts, want a stripper or a hot, passionate affair. He can get laid any time he wants, and he doesn't have to pay. What he wanted was his brother back. And "she" would mutate and become that for him, until he killed his own brother.

Oh, Dean.

I also love Bobby's Wall O' Fake-Out Phones and Kiss the Cook apron

The phone bank alone makes this ep worth the price of admission.

Anna killed Uriel in this episode- but then Michael kills Anna in the past in Song Remains the Same. Does that mean Uriel lives in the future since Anna's not around to kill him? Or ... See as much as I love Time Travel these are the things I ponder til I need Advil..

This is why time travel doesn't work in this show. Too many variables that cannot be reconciled with what has come before. So you know what I do? I just don't think about it too hard. I take the basic information that the ep gives me and move on. Because otherwise we get into alternative timelines wherein we are only following the timeline of these specific characters in this particular chain of events, and to consider that since Anna died in the past (of the Winchester timeline, but not of the angel timeline) Uriel would be alive in the future . . . that follows alternate timelines that we are not following at the moment and . . . and . . .

This is why time travel doesn't really work in the SPN universe.

My brain hurts.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Re: time travel: Anna who died in the past was future-Anna, post-dead-Uriel Anna, so I don't really see a problem with the timeline there. Uriel still dies in the future, because Anna's still there.

...wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey. *g* The Winchester-y time travel stuff, otoh, doesn't work so well for me. Argh.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

See, angels can be wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey to a certain extent. (As created beings, their timeline is finite, just as ours is, but this is SPN so *handwave*.)

As far as the Winchester thing goes . . . I happily put on my DW blinders that say certain events in history are fixed, and nothing anyone can do will change them. Like John buying the Impala. Dean (our Dean) wasn't around the first time it happened, because he hadn't been born yet, but it still happened. Unless his in a loop of some sort, and . . .

My head hurts.

Now, when you get to heaven and Ash has a practical use for string theory, then we might get some answers. But until Ash starts holding classes in his roadhouse, I'm just not gonna think about it too hard.

[girlyghoul70.livejournal.com]

This I think I can live with. Since I guess this is 2010 Anna who killed Uriel in 2008? or was it '09? But now she's talking to 1978 Uriel while 1978 Anna is... floating on a cloud in Heaven longing for chocolate cake? Mayhaps. But, yeah, I can buy using that structure that Uriel would still bite it at Anna's hand in 2008 or 09 while 2010 Anna gets the toasty treatment from Michael.

But wait... was that 2010 Michael or 1978 Michael? Oh no! Brain is back to hurting!!!! ARRRRGH!!!