Episode poll 14.10: "Nihilism"

[caranfindel]

[Poll #2089099]

Remember, no spoilers in the comments, please!

Comments

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

I loved this episode, so I ticked that box and I don't care what anyone else thinks!!! It was delightful.

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

They weren't all supermonsters, though, right? The supermonsters had to be made by Michael, and then they went and made a bunch of regular monsters? (Possibly I missed something there because I was bored by torturer!Michael.)

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Well, now I'm not sure. I thought that when a supermonster made a monster, that new monster would also be a supermonster. But maybe now.

And a question I forgot to ask... Why do the supermonsters PUNCH instead of BITE when they're fighting?

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

Why do the supermonsters PUNCH instead of BITE when they're fighting?

UGH. I know. I am so tired of superbeings punching each other on this show. I still think of that episode where Uriel and Castiel had a clumsy fist fight as the point where SPN jumped the shark for me. (Yes, I'm still swimming along with them, but that shark will always be there in the rear view. :D)

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Re: Tiger (the hunter who ran off in the woods and came back a secret monster) his eyes glowed like the supermonsters when he turned on Maggie so I assume a bite from a supermonster turns you into the same.

[marciaelena.livejournal.com]

I thought this was a pretty solid episode. The one thing I truly disliked was that Sam didn't get to go inside Dean's mind alone; I would've preferred for Castiel to stay behind and guard Sam and Michael!Dean while they were hooked up to that machine. That also would have made more sense than leaving only Jack in charge of that.

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

I agree, I wanted Sam to go alone. Of course then we either would have Cas holding off the monsters and Jack not burning a part of his soul, or Cas not being able to hold off the monsters, being totally useless and having Jack burn off part of his soul. I suspect they don't want Cas to be totally useless and they needed Checkov's Jack burning his soul to save people, so into Michael's mind Cas had to go.

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

This episode would have good a LOVED IT except I didn't like the whole Maggie leading-the-hunters bits! Otherwise I loved it, and I think Amanda Tapping is becoming my favourite director, she is so good at close ups of our boys, especially Dean.

And "Dean successfully ejects Michael, but spends the rest of his years as the brain-damaged 'blood and bone' Michael threatened him with" OH NO I HADN'T THOUGHT OF THAT!! That would be worse for Dean than dying.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Things I loved that you didn't include:
Sam knowing Dean so well to say that Dean gets stronger dealing with trauma so Michael would give him contentment.

Things that broke my heart that you didn't include:
Sam knowing Dean so well to say that Dean gets stronger dealing with trauma so Michael would give him contentment.

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Also re: what's in the last book--

It's not Dean dying, he's been resigned to dying in the fight for a long time. It's something awful happening to someone else, probably Sam, and probably not a clean death.

Guesses:
Somehow Lucifer shows up again and Sam has to say yes to Luci to take out Michael?
Jack saves the world by burning out his soul and now he is the soulless big bad that Dean has to take out?

[verucasalt123.livejournal.com]

My assumption was that the book says Dean dies an old man, warm and safe in his bed, but Michael takes out his brother.

If you compare the performance of Michael for the whole ep to those very last few seconds of just Dean looking terrified at what was in the book Bille showed him, you can see Jensen still struggling to make the character work v PEAK Jensen.

Someone really needs to check on Garth, though. And the car.

Steve Yockey brought his A game for this one. The biggest stumble I saw was AV-Club Tiger FOLLOWING THE TRACKS, and then no one testing him after.

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

I kept thinking 'how many supermonsters are there? Aren't they going to lay waste to the city?' And then there's at most 10 supermonsters. Michael's taunts brought on my narcolepsy, Seriously, all of the guys have heard this shit over and over and over...how can it bother any of them? If only Cas had said, "I've heard it a dozen times, sunshine."

By the way, it has irritated me since they first disclosed the Bunker that it's supposed to be warded but the only thing it's warded against is continuity.

I liked this episode okay. Jensen still doesn't grab me as Michael. And the ending...they've already done every possible scenario so I don't honestly care.

Was Tracie Dinwiddie credited as Thunderbird?

[fufaraw]

I will address the Thunderbird? thing. She was actually calling herself "T(for Traci)-bird," in much the same way as JJ is J-bird, or "Birdie". But for whatever sense of professionalism (hush, you) she did the formal Thunderbird.

[z-publicizes.livejournal.com]

Maybe the rest of the AU crew is just too taciturn to give inspirational speeches and so they have to rely on Maggie to rally the troops?

This season's most persistent plot issue is that it has a large revolving cast of characters with some stake in the ongoing plot but it can only afford to have them make so many appearances each, so we either get awkward exposition or awkward omissions on what Castiel/Jack/Nick/Mary/Bobby/Rowena/Jody/Charlie/Maggie/Ketch/AU!hunter redshirts are up to offscreen this week.

I'm not sure what to think about Dean's mindscape other than that it seemed pretty sad. Dean being free from his burdens apparently also requires that he be without any human connection deeper than the going-nowhere flirtation with Pamela. Dean's dream homebase isn't the bunker. Baby isn't anywhere in the picture--he even devalues her when he says he's never had anything as nice as the bar!

[smalltrolven.livejournal.com]

I think the thing in Dean's book that he was reacting to is Sam having to let Lucifer possess him again so that the Luci/Mike apocalypse battle can happen. I hope I'm wrong, I really really do.

Why didn't Sam warn Maggie that Garth was possibly still a super monster in the trunk of the Impala?

[z-publicizes.livejournal.com]

I didn't want to be the one to say it but this does seem like an obvious possibility. I can't think of any other reason we're being subjected to the Nick/ifer? subplot :(