10.09 Initial reaction: So you’re having a midlife (midseason) crisis

[caranfindel]

On a scale of 1 to 5 pigs…

The “Then” reminds us that Dean is under the influence of the Mark, Rowena has powers and is Crowley’s mom, Claire was an adorable little girl, Cas is thinking about Jimmy, and Cas exploded at Stull.

The “Now” shows Dean having a Mark-influenced dream about a Mark-influenced slaughter and dammit, my fic in progress has been Kripke’d once again.

It’s the return of fanfic favorite Claire Novak! (Is this the same actress? I do have to point out the benefits of being unspoiled here. It was nice to have that little “oh, hey, it’s Claire!” moment of realization.) She’s an angry locked-down teenager, and I have high hopes for her story. The look on her face, when Cas walks into her room and she thinks he might be Jimmy… it’s heartbreaking. And sadly, that’s the last time I find her interesting. This episode just gives us way too much Claire. Her mom apparently disappeared to “find herself,” which I think is an odd writing choice. Amelia seemed pretty protective of her daughter, and if they needed to write her out, I would have had her suffer a nervous breakdown, or become a drug addict, instead of just flouncing off into the sunset. Anyway, Castiel does a pretty good job imitating a normal human being when he poses as Jimmy, which makes me wonder why he can’t do that all the time.

We get some nice brotherly time together, and it doesn’t last very long, but I’m sure there will be a lot more in this episode, right? (spoiler alert: wrong). If there was any doubt that I’m married to Dean Winchester, his appreciation of the Three Stooges puts a big shiny bow on it. And yet. He’s pretty obviously overcompensating, right? Laughing at the Stooges, enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich, poking fun at Sam (“that’s every Friday night for Sam”) – the boy is trying too hard, isn’t he? Why yes, he is, because after this conversation with Cas:

”Some stuff you gotta let go. The people you let down, the ones you can’t save.”
“Is that what you do?”
“It’s the opposite of what I do, but I’m not exactly a role model.”

Dean very suddenly and very uncharacteristically asks Cas to “take me out” if he goes darkside. “I can’t go down that road again, man. I can’t be that thing again.” If he’s even admitting it’s a possibility, he must already have one foot in that handbasket.

Rowena is becoming more interesting. She plays Crowley like a violin, and she’s also got some awesome lines.

”You said I would die in a gutter, covered in my own sick.”
“I was motivating you to do better!”

“Of course you had a father! You were just conceived during a winter solstice orgy. It’s not like I was taking names!”

There’s a lot of talk about family. Claire calls Randy her family. Rowena plays the family card with Crowley (“Fair-gus” – I do love the way she says his name.) And Sam and Dean have a really lovely scene where they talk about John.

”Did you love your father?”
“With everything I had.”

Although when Dean says “Damn if he wasn’t there when we needed him,” and Sam says “Hey,” I thought, hoped, he was going to say “As long as you didn’t want to go to college.” Have I mentioned lately how much I hate John Winchester?

Although, as father figures go, he’s a hell of a lot better than Randy, who agrees to sacrifice Claire to the stereotypical mobster types in order to wipe out his debt. Luckily, Team Free Will comes to the rescue just in time. And then all hell breaks loose.

Things I loved

Finally answering the question of whether Jimmy Novak is alive.

Crowley and Gerald. “Nobody cares, Gerald.” I’m sad to see him go.

Sam and Dean talking about John (as much as I hate him, I love that they can bond over him).

Dustin works at the Wiener Hut! Is that where Alfie/Samandriel worked?

”Do you think Claire’s in trouble?” “She’s hanging out with a guy named Randy. She’s in trouble.” Heh. I know three guys named Randy. Two of them are trouble.

Don’t be as dumb as you look.

The demon flashbacks (now I miss Demon!Dean again).

Sam in the car, realizing Dean isn’t behind him and something really bad is happening in the house. And then finding Dean and realizing something really, really, really bad is happening.

Things I could have done without

Claire’s drama is almost as boring as angel drama. I don’t care about her little rag tag band of criminals. I’m only interested in how she affects Cas and I don’t need 20 minutes of her story to do that.

Things I hope were done intentionally

Dean eats twice in this episode. Keeping in mind the significance of him not eating in 9.23, I hope this is an example of him trying to prove (to Sam or himself) that he’s not under the influence of the Mark.

This is an interesting Three Stooges clip to select. Yeah, you keep fighting that water, Curly. You’re never going to stop it. Because some things are just beyond our control.

On a scale of 1 to 5 pigs, I’m going to give this one a 2.5. It needed less Claire and more Winchesters. Dean’s descent needed to be a little more gradual and visible. It all could have been so much better.

I’m unspoiled for future episodes, including the previews. Please help me stay that way!

Comments

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

less Claire and more Winchesters

Purest truth is spoken there. I was hoping that the Claire story would be peripheral to the Winchester one, but nope, it was entirely the other way around. :( And yup, Dean's descent could've been more gradual if the brothers' screen time hadn't been so curtailed. Instead we got Sam and Dean as extras on their own show. D:

On a scale of 1 to 5 pigs

:DDD

eta: Also, Gerald -- Rowena tricked Crowley into killing the ONE person who truly had his back. This will not end well. :(

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Ha! Perfect icon! :-D

[thursdaysisters.livejournal.com]

Yeah I felt the same way, the scenes with Team Free Will were fun (I could watch Dean laugh all day), but by the time Claire pulled a gun in the gas station I was done.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

It's frustrating. This episode had so much potential.

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

To me, Dean's laugh and Sam's smile seemed so fake. But then, most of their scenes felt half-hearted, like they did this week. If they're not interested in Sam and Dean, why should we be? Excellent review, as always!

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[frozen_delight]

Crowley and Gerald had so much epic bromance potential. Now Crowley really, really needs to reunite with Dean.

I guess I liked this episode a lot better than most, and I thought that what they did with Dean was great (he was eating three times, by the way, definitely intentional!). He was so off throughout the episode it was glorious. And Sam noticed it, of course he did, and yet they were both trying to pretend so hard that everything was fine and it just broke my heart.

Also, did I mention that I'm convinced these aren't demon flashbacks but hell flashbacks? And I just love this show for making the connection between the MoC storyline and Dean torturing souls in hell.

Oh, and basically I just love this show, always and always. :)

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

You know, when I started my review, I thought he ate three times, but I could only come up with two. So there was the grilled cheese, and the burger with Cas at the restaurant he took Claire to. What was the third?

[frozen_delight]

When they were waiting for Claire's Wiener Hut friend:

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

OMG, that gif! How precious is that?!

[elwarre.livejournal.com]

no poll, no poll, my heart is broken....

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Wipe your tears!

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hi! I love your observation on the stooges cap. Fighting "water" that's beyond their control. And now we know that the cap wasn't selcted because of the bars it could be that the water caught their attention.

And yes, I think Dean was trying too hard (when laughing at the stooges). I keep trying to work out how this episode tied into the last one when he killed without being driven by the mark (which I truly believe), maybe he thought he was able to control it more that he actually was. Or perhaps just trying to forget while he can.

It definitely needed more Winchesters!!!