SPN - 7.03

[feliciakw]

Well, hmm. I'm not feeling properly squeeful overall, because our CW reception sux, and there are big gaping holes in the episode. The flashbacks felt jarring, but that might be because the reception kept dropping out. Also, our DVR is doing funky things, and I missed the beginning of the ep. Grrrrr . . .

However:

Colin Ford is growing up!

Amy Pond? Bwah. Well, we know what the writers of this ep watch in their spare time.

Rufus's cabin!

Dean and his telenovelas. Bwah! And Bobby being just as interested. Double bwah!

Cake?!?! Let him eat cake??? Sam, you are definitely not okay.

Jewel Staite. \o/

Oh. Oh, Dean. I'm brought to mind of Lenore. Or the kid in Croatoan. Dean has learned from experience not to let monsters go. But oh, Dean.

And the kid saw him do it. Oh, man.

I'm thinking that this week's incident will play a significant role in next week's ep.

Comments

[ficwriter1966.livejournal.com]

I'm not *dancing* with squee (this wasn't "Weekend at Bobby's", after all), but I'm feeling very satisfied. Nice, meaty, troubling stuff there.

Poor Dean. No pie. But according to the ad the little girl Leviathan listened to last week, Biggerson's has an entire pie BUFFET.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Pie bar! YES!!!! I so wanted Dean to enjoy the pie bar after he was given cake.

[mtee.livejournal.com]

I live in Whitefish MT!! I squee'd. I'm doing good, lived for 7 yrs in Sioux Falls. Born and raised in Ohio! Never saw those Winchester boys anywhere! I'll keep looking.

Dean... honey I understand why.. but .. Dean!

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

The boys really need to come to Winchester, Va, which is reputed to be one of the most haunted towns in the commonwealth. I know exactly where they'd stay, too.

Doesn't Dean just break your heart? He would totally have taken a different route if he'd had another option. They way he explained his reasons, and did it quickly, and said he was sorry, and laid her down gently on the bed . . . He so didn't want to do that. And he knows exactly what he's done.

Oh, Dean.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

The flashbacks made it a little lumpy in texture, didn't they? Not the best segue timing in this ep. But I was really enjoying both storylines, so I could sort of overlook it.

I wish to hug Colin Ford for being the best baby!Sam ever.

Okay, I could have gotten on board with killing Jewel Staite (I wouldn't be happy about it, but can't argue with the logic). What bugs me is that Dean had this whole "believe in me" moment with Sam last ep, and then he had a big "I trust you, Sam" moment here, after which he went out and did exactly what Sam was asking him not to do without telling Sam. I think it's the hiding it from Sam that bothers me the most, to be honest.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I'm still cogitating what's going on with Dean. He's become very fatalistic, what with his "people are who they are" and "you are what you are" and . . . I'm wondering if his whole "I trust you, Sam" is more of "I trust you to be who you are, a softy who falls for any line a pretty monster gives you." I know that wasn't the implication, but Sam is who he is, and Dean's lived with it long enough to get used to it, and Dean has convinced himself that he (Dean) is who he is. And now with this fatalistic streak, he's acting like neither of them will ever change.

Because there really is no easy way around this for Dean. Either he lets a monster with a history of killing go, or he tells Sam he's going to kill her since Sam can't (and suffer Sam's reaction), or do what needs to be done without telling Sam.

There's no good way to approach this, and it's kind of because Sam hasn't learned that even monsters with the best intentions can't be trusted not to relapse.

It's a tangled web, that's for certain, and I really can't fault anyone in the situation for the actions they took.

Oh, the ambiguity of it all!

Also? Colin Ford is going to be quite the looker when he grows up. I almost didn't recognize him, he's matured so much since the last time I saw him.

[snickfic]

I'm thinking that this week's incident will play a significant role in next week's ep.

I sincerely hope so. This is the second time in five eps that Dean has made me really frothing mad, and I want us to address that and not just shrug our shoulders and say he's in a bad place. Even though he is, clearly.

I'm firmly of the opinion that he ought to have let Jewel Staite go, though.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I can't be too firmly of any opinion, because it was a no-win situation for everyone, and I understand why everyone did what they did.

Amy killed people so her son would not die.

Sam let her go because she saved his life, and he was returning the favor.

But she had killed three people. And if her son got sick again (a very likely chance), her history indicates that she would kill again. Dean knows from experience that even "good" monsters go bad. Lenore, for example, eventually returned to killing people. Madison asked to be put down because she didn't want to kill anyone else. This is Dean's experience, and this is the knowledge he was acting from.

I admit that I was bothered by the turn of events. But what made it painful (rather than angering) for me was Dean's attitude about it. He didn't want to kill her. He explained to her why he was doing what he was gonna do (gee, Dean, fatalistic much?). He made it quick, he said he was sorry, and he laid her down gently on the bed rather than letting her drop to the floor. He's got guilt aplenty over it, but he was acting on previous experience and current knowledge.

A lot of people are vilifying Dean for this. Others are siding vocally with him. What I see is the conflicted Dean I've seen for a while now, doing what he believes is best, following what he believes is the only path available to him, and suffering the emotional consequences of it.

I'll stop there, with apologies for being so longwinded. I wrote a bit more about it at the end of my long and rambly. Suffice to say, Dean knows exactly what he did, and he took zero pleasure in it. 'Tis why I think we're getting the ep we are immediately following this one. I think the guilt will carry through and be an issue in the next ep.

[snickfic]

Perhaps a rewatch would change my feelings about it. I think part of what bothered me was that I didn't get the feeling that Dean regretted killing her. Possibly I'm looking at it from the wrong angle, though.

'Tis why I think we're getting the ep we are immediately following this one. I think the guilt will carry through and be an issue in the next ep.

Aha. This is where I confess that I never watch the previews; I have no idea what ep we're getting next. But I'd be heartened if it somehow addressed the events of this ep. I just don't want the whole issue to just go on the list of "questionable things Dean's done," you know?

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

If something hits you on a shocking, hit your buttons level, sometimes a re-watch is necessary.

If you read a lot of my posts, you'll discover (if you haven't already :-) ) that I'm a Dean girl, and I tend to see things from Dean's POV first. Watch the scene again, not just what Dean does, but how he does it. And watch him as he leaves the now motherless child in the room with Amy's body. Killing Amy was definitely not something he took pleasure in. It wasn't something he wanted to do. He just knew it had to be done. And I think the actual guilt started to set in as he left the room.

Ooh! Sorry if I spoiled anything for you. I tend to consider promo trailers as common knowledge. (Though I do not watch the eps clips that are released ahead of time.) Tomorrow's episode promises to be quite intriguing, I think.

[snickfic]

Part of the reason I'm struggling with this is that I'm a Dean girl, too. Dean wiping Lisa and Ben's memories last season was a real blow to my feelings about him, though, and this feels like more of the same: Dean taking matters into his own hands for reasons I don't agree with. So there's backstory to my angst. *g*

But yes, possibly a rewatch is in order.

Ooh! Sorry if I spoiled anything for you.

That's all right! Considering promo trailers as common knowledge is perfectly reasonable. I'm just an extreme spoilerphobe. :)

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Totally understandable. I wasn't on board with his request to have Lisa and Ben's memories wiped either, but I understand why he did it. (Had a conversation about it in the comment thread of my review, if you want to read it.) And given the alternative--killing them off--as a storytelling option, well, they're not dead. Right? (I also watch Dr. Who, and when a similar thing happened to one of my favorite characters, I sobbed for 20 minutes. So, yeah.)

I like Dean. I've always liked Dean. I expect I always will like Dean. That doesn't mean I like everything he does. But not liking it is not the same thing as not understanding it. I understand why he does what he does. Maybe that helps me . . . not approve, but accept it. Maybe.

So there's backstory to my angst. *g*

Oh, I understand. :-) My angst usually originates from the fandom, though, and my backstory usually has personal aspects. Oy.

I wrote a separate post about my thinking on each person's actions in the circumstances (Amy, Sam, and Dean). You've probably read it, but if not, you might find it interesting?

New ep tonight! \o/

Oh, and as an extreme spoilerphobe (I'm rather quite allergic, myself), would you like to know the things that I consider "common knowledge" or will look at prior to an ep?

[snickfic]

I wrote a separate post about my thinking on each person's actions in the circumstances (Amy, Sam, and Dean). You've probably read it, but if not, you might find it interesting?

Ooh, thank you! I'll go check it out when I get a chance.

would you like to know the things that I consider "common knowledge" or will look at prior to an ep?

Actually, yes, that might be handy to know. Thank you!

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Okey dokey.

What I will do:

I'll watch the promo trailers, but not the preview clips. I look at publicity stills one week prior to the ep airing. (Stills for the next ep, basically.)

I will watch the previouslies, because I consider them part of the ep as being presented.

What I won't do:

I don't read or watch interviews with the writers, directors, producers, guest stars, etc. until after the fact. (If then.)

Exception: Unless it's Jensen. In which case I can't help myself, and all bets are off. Or if there's talk about Jensen by others, then I might skim and read just those paragraphs. Or if people are on a panel with Jensen, like at ComicCon, then I'll watch and listen to the other folks on the panel because dude, Jensen.

It's very hard, unless I totally avoid the internet altogether, to not accidentally run across spoilers. I knew, for example, that Cas was going to be removed from the storyline in a pretty significant way for a significant amount of time. I knew Jewel Staite was going to guest star. I know a couple of the upcoming guest stars, though I'm not all fannishly agog about it.

And once an ep has aired, I consider it common knowledge. I try to be considerate, because I know some of my f-list doesn't watch it immediately, but I also think a person has to take some responsibility for their own spoilering.

So I'm not a 100% totally phobic spoilerphobe, but I do have a strong allergy to spoilers.

[snickfic]

Thanks! I avoid pretty much everything, including the previews and promo trailers. It's extremely fortunate that SPN is the only CW show I watch. So I will keep this in mind - I might come to your ramblies and reviews a week late.

Also, your Jensen exception amuses me. I was giggling at my computer screen before work this morning. :)