SPN - "Party On, Garth"
Apr. 1st, 2012 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feliciakwGonna try something a little different this week. Rather than doing a chronological recap, I think I'll take the ep element by element.
Garth: Amusing in small doses. Somewhat competent with a basic salt-and-burn, though lacking in research beyond hearsay. Has a special lady. Somewhat overconfident and annoying, a lightweight when it comes to the alcohol, which he seems to enjoy anyway. Smart enough to call Dean when he's in over his head. However, spends the climactic showdown knocked unconscious (both times). Probably just as well.
And I had a brief flash of H50 when he called Dean "brah."
I've seen some complaints that there was hope he wouldn't be made to look smart at the expense of the boys. I found it to be quite the opposite. Placing Sam and Dean with Garth highlighted how experienced and professional the Winchesters are. Working with Garth was like part mentorship, part babysitting.
Well, with the exception of Tess, who responds to Mr. Fizzles? Dean can't get her to talk, but she'll talk to a sock puppet? I couldn't help but think of Dean with Lucas in "Dead in the Water." Tess draws. At one point, I actually wanted Dean to put a stop to the sock puppet and ask Tess to draw what she saw. Because Dean knows how to work with kids who are more comfortable drawing than talking. Sheesh.
Still, Garth is well-meaning and enthusiastic. If he doesn't get you killed, he'll grow on you.
And George got a huge kick out of the Pacer in-joke. Sam and Dean were driving a Pacer (I couldn't figure out if it was a Gremlin or a Pacer, and I was quickly informed that it was the latter), and Garth's comment about it. Because the original Garth (from Wayne's World) drove a Pacer.
George also found it highly amusing that they went from a badass Charger last week to a Pacer this week. And that Garth was driving the "cool car," the El Ranchero, while the boys were driving the Pacer, which Geo called the least cool car on the planet, even below a Gremlin. He's been enjoying the change-up in cars this season, even if no one else has.
Shojo: Excellently creepy MotW, sadly under-used. Would like to have seen a case revolve more around that, with less distraction in the realm of guest star. Not sure how to accomplish that, though.
And my first thought, when they sussed out that it was a monster you could only see when drunk? No problem for a functional alcoholic like Dean, right?
Dean: Oh, Dean. So much going on with him. Many moments that I liked. Like when he discovers that Thighslapper Ale is actually awesome. Hee! Also, "Beer isn't food. It's whatever water is." Oh, Dean.
Dean's the one who figures out the connection between those who saw the monster. (Smart!Dean)
Then in the office, he hands Sam the whiskey, while he himself picks up something that's extremely potent even for Dean. I'm thinking moonshine or white lightening of some kind. (My first thought was ouzo, but now I'm thinking moonshine. Because the stuff I've tasted? Would work really good as an antiseptic in a pinch. Or window cleaner. Or to strip furniture. Oy.
"Can you even get drunk anymore?" Sam asks. "It's kinda like drinking a vitamin or you, right?" Oh, Sam. You have a point.
But it does the trick and gets Dean a (kinda) drunk. But even drunk, Sam and Dean speak the same language. Heh.
I also kind of love that they consult with a Japanese chef, and that Dean has the chef recite the Shinto blessing while he (Dean) pours spring water (a "running spring," after all) over the samurai blade. Going ghetto on the spellwork, indeed. Hee! But hey, whatever works in a pinch.
Also also? Dean is a samurai!
Also x3? Teamwork! Sam is drunk from watching the last sister, and so can see the monster. Dean has sobered up, and so has his wits about him for the fight, but can't see the shojo. So Sam is Dean's eyes. Teamwork! \o/
And oh, Dean. So very hopeful that Bobby is still around. Chronicling the weird stuff that's been going on.
And Sam sees Dean's hope, and knows that this could break Dean.
Sam: So . . . Sam did in fact try to contact Bobby after the disappearing beer. But no dice with the talking board. I totally get his not wanting to bring Dean in on it without proof. Why do that to Dean?
And as Dean lists the things that could be Bobby, Sam doesn't want Dean to go there. Because Sam knows how tenuously Dean is holding on. And Sam does have a point. We see loved ones we've lost. In a crowd. Out of the corner of our eye. Normal people see these things, Winchesters simply see a different variation. It's a good argument.
Some folks are thinking that when Sam went "a little nuts" after the beer disappeared, that perhaps Sam was seeing Bobby. Maybe, maybe not. He's been hallucinating a lot of things this season. Hallucinating Bobby, but no confirmation from the talking board, no EMF. Makes sense.
And this reasoning makes sense to Dean, because if it were Bobby, Bobby would let them know.
But per S3, talking boards don't always work. Sometimes the spirit world is chatty, and sometimes it isn't. (Still, it's an understandable assumption that if Bobby were around, he'd take that opportunity to make himself known.)
(Also x4? Swayze reference!)
The Reveal: Bobby! Now that's how you play the reveal of the return of a much-loved character. You don't promote it to death and spoil it. Heck, Jim Beaver's even been lying to us for weeks about working on a film in northern Canada, probably to keep the secret in case the paparazzi snapped in at the Vancouver airport. Plausible deniability. Or something.
Bobby! I didn't want him to return as a ghost. Bobby knows better. And if Bobby can't communicate with the boys, he's going to get frustrated. And things will escalate. But as long as he has a purpose, perhaps that will be enough.
Yeah, right.
Bobby! And the way that last scene was played. With Dean almost acknowledging him. That pause by the door, as if he senses something.
And Bobby flickering out.
I didn't want Bobby coming back as a ghost. But this is well enough played that I can go along with it.
Bobby! O.O I sat with my eyes like O.O and my hand over my mouth just . . . O.O
Bobby!
Dean!
Sam!
O.O
Garth: Amusing in small doses. Somewhat competent with a basic salt-and-burn, though lacking in research beyond hearsay. Has a special lady. Somewhat overconfident and annoying, a lightweight when it comes to the alcohol, which he seems to enjoy anyway. Smart enough to call Dean when he's in over his head. However, spends the climactic showdown knocked unconscious (both times). Probably just as well.
And I had a brief flash of H50 when he called Dean "brah."
I've seen some complaints that there was hope he wouldn't be made to look smart at the expense of the boys. I found it to be quite the opposite. Placing Sam and Dean with Garth highlighted how experienced and professional the Winchesters are. Working with Garth was like part mentorship, part babysitting.
Well, with the exception of Tess, who responds to Mr. Fizzles? Dean can't get her to talk, but she'll talk to a sock puppet? I couldn't help but think of Dean with Lucas in "Dead in the Water." Tess draws. At one point, I actually wanted Dean to put a stop to the sock puppet and ask Tess to draw what she saw. Because Dean knows how to work with kids who are more comfortable drawing than talking. Sheesh.
Still, Garth is well-meaning and enthusiastic. If he doesn't get you killed, he'll grow on you.
And George got a huge kick out of the Pacer in-joke. Sam and Dean were driving a Pacer (I couldn't figure out if it was a Gremlin or a Pacer, and I was quickly informed that it was the latter), and Garth's comment about it. Because the original Garth (from Wayne's World) drove a Pacer.
George also found it highly amusing that they went from a badass Charger last week to a Pacer this week. And that Garth was driving the "cool car," the El Ranchero, while the boys were driving the Pacer, which Geo called the least cool car on the planet, even below a Gremlin. He's been enjoying the change-up in cars this season, even if no one else has.
Shojo: Excellently creepy MotW, sadly under-used. Would like to have seen a case revolve more around that, with less distraction in the realm of guest star. Not sure how to accomplish that, though.
And my first thought, when they sussed out that it was a monster you could only see when drunk? No problem for a functional alcoholic like Dean, right?
Dean: Oh, Dean. So much going on with him. Many moments that I liked. Like when he discovers that Thighslapper Ale is actually awesome. Hee! Also, "Beer isn't food. It's whatever water is." Oh, Dean.
Dean's the one who figures out the connection between those who saw the monster. (Smart!Dean)
Then in the office, he hands Sam the whiskey, while he himself picks up something that's extremely potent even for Dean. I'm thinking moonshine or white lightening of some kind. (My first thought was ouzo, but now I'm thinking moonshine. Because the stuff I've tasted? Would work really good as an antiseptic in a pinch. Or window cleaner. Or to strip furniture. Oy.
"Can you even get drunk anymore?" Sam asks. "It's kinda like drinking a vitamin or you, right?" Oh, Sam. You have a point.
But it does the trick and gets Dean a (kinda) drunk. But even drunk, Sam and Dean speak the same language. Heh.
I also kind of love that they consult with a Japanese chef, and that Dean has the chef recite the Shinto blessing while he (Dean) pours spring water (a "running spring," after all) over the samurai blade. Going ghetto on the spellwork, indeed. Hee! But hey, whatever works in a pinch.
Also also? Dean is a samurai!
Also x3? Teamwork! Sam is drunk from watching the last sister, and so can see the monster. Dean has sobered up, and so has his wits about him for the fight, but can't see the shojo. So Sam is Dean's eyes. Teamwork! \o/
And oh, Dean. So very hopeful that Bobby is still around. Chronicling the weird stuff that's been going on.
And Sam sees Dean's hope, and knows that this could break Dean.
Sam: So . . . Sam did in fact try to contact Bobby after the disappearing beer. But no dice with the talking board. I totally get his not wanting to bring Dean in on it without proof. Why do that to Dean?
And as Dean lists the things that could be Bobby, Sam doesn't want Dean to go there. Because Sam knows how tenuously Dean is holding on. And Sam does have a point. We see loved ones we've lost. In a crowd. Out of the corner of our eye. Normal people see these things, Winchesters simply see a different variation. It's a good argument.
Some folks are thinking that when Sam went "a little nuts" after the beer disappeared, that perhaps Sam was seeing Bobby. Maybe, maybe not. He's been hallucinating a lot of things this season. Hallucinating Bobby, but no confirmation from the talking board, no EMF. Makes sense.
And this reasoning makes sense to Dean, because if it were Bobby, Bobby would let them know.
But per S3, talking boards don't always work. Sometimes the spirit world is chatty, and sometimes it isn't. (Still, it's an understandable assumption that if Bobby were around, he'd take that opportunity to make himself known.)
(Also x4? Swayze reference!)
The Reveal: Bobby! Now that's how you play the reveal of the return of a much-loved character. You don't promote it to death and spoil it. Heck, Jim Beaver's even been lying to us for weeks about working on a film in northern Canada, probably to keep the secret in case the paparazzi snapped in at the Vancouver airport. Plausible deniability. Or something.
Bobby! I didn't want him to return as a ghost. Bobby knows better. And if Bobby can't communicate with the boys, he's going to get frustrated. And things will escalate. But as long as he has a purpose, perhaps that will be enough.
Yeah, right.
Bobby! And the way that last scene was played. With Dean almost acknowledging him. That pause by the door, as if he senses something.
And Bobby flickering out.
I didn't want Bobby coming back as a ghost. But this is well enough played that I can go along with it.
Bobby! O.O I sat with my eyes like O.O and my hand over my mouth just . . . O.O
Bobby!
Dean!
Sam!
O.O
