9.18 initial reaction

[caranfindel]

First, a very happy birthday to my friend brightly_lit! You are awesome and I hope you have a great day.

Second, alexisjane makes a really good point about how S9 has a great story arc but not necessarily a lot of great individual episodes. I’m feeling the same way. I like what’s going on, I just wish it was arranged differently, or something. Less filler.

So, yeah, I like that things are happening. Let’s get to the details…

There was a lot of angel nonsense in the "Then," which warned me that this episode would be angel-heavy. But opening with Metatron himself was a surprise. And honestly it kind of made me uncomfortable, because he was not only talking to me (or so it seemed at the time), but was actually kind of mocking me. I’m going to give the story meaning? Are you referring to SPN fans endlessly analyzing each episode, using fanon to fill the holes canon left, and whatnot? Exactly how meta is this episode? And the later mentions of retcon and continuity errors only added to that feeling.

I did, however, love the way the title card changed from Supernatural to Metatron. Hee!

The shower scene! Turns out most of the GIFs of the shower scene were longer than the scene itself. Now. We’ve seen Dean shower more than once. Can I please get a scene with Sam in the shower? Really, I just want to confirm that his tattoo has been replaced. That’s all. I swear.

Cas finds a room full of dead angels. I should feel bad about finding this boring, shouldn’t I? I’m no leader, blah blah blah. The torn coat was pretty obviously significant. It reminded me of when I watched Mystery Spot with my daughter, and at the beginning she pointed out that they were putting a lot of details in Sam and Dean’s walk (woman carrying flyers, barking dog, movers) that we were obviously supposed to notice.

Cas’s hotel room made me nervous as soon as he walked in. Not just the gold/tan shade, which might be a danger signal this season, but just something about the way they filmed the scene made me feel anxious, like someone was hiding and was about to jump out at him. (And it turns out I wasn’t exactly wrong, was I?)

Now, I’m not a Destiel shipper by any means. But Cas's smile Dean finally lightened up a bit on the phone? God. That was so sweet. He really does care about him (in a purely platonic nonsexy way, as far as I’m concerned, but ya’ll can imagine whatever you want in that adorable little smile).



I covered the bottom of the screen during the guest stars, so I didn’t know Richard Speight was in this episode. But as soon as I saw Casa Erotica I knew Gabriel was going to show up!  \o/ And now that I’m rewatching, it looks like they didn’t even list him in the credits at the beginning? Or did I miss it? If they actually did leave him off, kudos. I hate the way they end up spoiling themselves all the damn time.

So, Gabriel. As excited as I was to see the little asshole, I’m actually glad it turned out to not be him. Like I said with Kevin, having him come back just minimizes the impact of his death. Having him return as an illusion, like Bobby did in 9.01, is a nice way to let us revisit a beloved character without undoing the drama of his death. (And yes, I’m assuming he is well and truly dead. We saw wings, people.) I didn’t catch on that something was not quite right until they were in the car, and he looked out the window (in the opposite direction of the gas gauge) while pointing out they needed gas. Now, is it just me, or is he actually looking right at the camera, a la Metatron at the beginning of the episode?



Gadreel’s capture was a nice fake-out. And it was funny that Gadreel assumed Sam and Dean were playing good cop/bad cop when in fact they were playing bad cop/touched-by-evil baaaad cop. I loved Sam hitting Gadreel. Not just because he deserved it, not just because rawr, Angry!Sam is crazy hot, but also because it was the only time his hair looked good during this episode. (Note to SPN crew: Do you not realize that Sam’s hair is a character on this show? Please give it the respect it deserves.) I was also relieved that Dean understood Gadreel was egging him on with the lies about how Sam felt about him (at least I assume they were lies… I wish I trusted the writers more on this one).



I know the Mark is supposed to be a weapon against Abaddon, but it looks like it’s going to come into play with Metatron as well. He’s immune to Sam and Dean’s current levels of angel protection, so I don’t know how they or Castiel and his minions will defeat him without it. Just a theory.

The Metatron/Gadreel interaction was interesting. I think they’re both lying to each other. No, of course I didn’t intend for you to get captured. Yes, of course I’m still on your side. Sure, guys.

Man, night comes quickly in Utah, doesn’t it? One minute we’re making a daytime hostage switch and just minutes later, it’s dark. :-/ Anyway, I’m going to let it slide, because this scene? It makes me happy. Once again, I’m not a Destiel shipper, but Cas grabbing Dean’s arm, giving him that look… that’s all kinds of hot. I had to rewatch it 4 or 5 times to make sure :-D but yeah, that’s hot.



And then I paid attention to Sam and, wow. Watch him get it. Watch him go from concerned to scared as he sees how Cas reacts to the Mark. And when Cas says “you keep an eye on him,” Sam knows he really means “this is serious.” And then look at the boys in the Impala… Sam is SO worried about Dean. And it’s only going to get worse, baby.





Also, a lot of green and yellow behind Dean. Neither of these colors are good omens.



I’m unspoiled for next week; please help me stay that way!