Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #21 – “Salvation”

Posted on October 30, 2014 by lost_limey

A quick note by way of introduction may be required here. For quite some time now, certain members of the Richmond WriMos have been trying to persuade me to watch the CW show Supernatural. I have relented and am now embarking on watching Supernatural via the wonders of Netflix. This series of posts will simply be my first impressions, almost stream of consciousness style, presented in the form of the time elapsed in the episode and my thoughts expressed as bullet points. It’s effectively live tweeting the episodes except I don’t have to stick to 140 characters or fewer. So without further ado here’s my take on:

Season 1 Episode 21 – “Salvation”

00:02 – The previouslies section gets a formal title “The Road So Far”
00:05 – And a backing song “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas (sadly, not on Netflix)
01: And we start the teaser with Meg entering a church. I’m predicting this won’t go well for the preacher.
02:48 – Meg has the demon black eyes. I think this is the first confirmation in show that she is,in fact, a demon. Though it has been obvious for a while that she’s both not human and some seriously bad juju. The preacher’s reaction makes me think that he might be the oft-mentioned Pastor Jim.
03:20 – He’s clearly a hunter, so yeah, it’s Pastor Jim
03:55 – …And, he’s dead. Particularly nasty throat slash from Meg
05:20 – So the demon that Meg works for has a thing for 6-month-olds? That’s all kinds of squicky.
05:39 – So, Sam the self-loathing is blaming himself for Mommy Winchester and Dead Jessica’s fate, rather than, you know, the actual damned (no pun intended) demon that did it.
06:59 – Picking a target in a town called Salvation shows that this demon, while an undoubted son of a bitch, has a keen sense of irony.
07:46 – Pastor Jim’s identity – confirmed.
08:02 – I assume this “Caleb” is A) a hunter and B) not long for this world
09:17 – Pretty sure Daddy Winchester just lost the will to live and doesn’t care if avenging his wife is a suicide mission.
10:38 – Gotta give Dean props for managing to find time to hit on the receptionist despite the urgency of his task and the major stakes involved in regards to the demon that started this whole thing.
11:06 – Sam’s getting a vision. Since these have all been demon related hitherto, I imagine this will reduce their gigantic baby name list down to the slightly more manageable size of “1.”
12:16 – Call your family already, you terrible-haired dolt!
13:28 – You’re gonna make her think you’re nutso, Sammy-boy. Dial down the intensity a little bit.
15:18 – They managed to make the demon attack even more sinister by switching up the camera angles.
15:52 – Considering his general treatment of the boys, there’s something vaguely hypocritical about Daddy Winchester being mad he was kept in the dark in regards to Sam’s visions.
16:16 – And amazingly, it’s Dean who calls him out on it. Obedient, following-in-his-father’s-footsteps-no-questions-asked Dean!
17:10 – “Just your feelings? That was a 7-story drop.” – Sam can snark almost as well as big bro.
18:27 – My prediction from 08:02 is accurate. Caleb also receiving the old slashy slashy from Meg
19:35 – Daddy acquiesced far too easily. He better have something planned.
20:54 – Fake gun seems a solid plan It likely ends with Daddy getting shot and killed but it should give Sam and Dean the chance to finish off the big nasty.
23:50 – Significant weighty pause. Only sound is the wind. Close Captioning: “[Bird Squawking in the Distance],” way to undermine the tone there, captioning people.
24:37 – I think there’s a significant chance Daddy doesn’t make it to the end credits alive. If this were the season finale rather than the penultimate episode, I’d say that chance would be 100%
28:06 – Looks like Daddy is blessing some big tanks of water. I hope this leads to a MASSIVE HOLY WATER BOMB. (The capitals are mandatory)
30:54 – Meg has a partner? I’m assuming he’s at least as demonic as she is.
31:44 – Whoever Meg’s partner is, he’s a cold one. He just shot Meg to check if the Colt was real.If it were Meg would be dead right now. I can’t imagine she’ll be too happy about that.
33: Well, it wasn’t a MASSIVE HOLY WATER BOMB,but it does seem to have delayed Meg and other dude from following Daddy.
34:04 – Oh man, it is on!
35:00 – The man of the house fending off the brothers Winchester like the common burglars they’re effectively being.
35:15 – The actual demon! Or at least a figure cloaked in shadow that I assume to be the actual demon.
35:27 – This demon has yellow eyes instead of the standard black. I wonder if that means something?
35:35 – Damn it, Sam missed! It’s almost as if this isn’t the season finale or something. Also that leaves just three bullets to finish Ol’ Yellow Eyes.
36:14 – Apparently pinning someone too a wall and sliding them up it is a go-to move for demons. While it has style, I feel it laks the intimacy of the classical punch to the face or anal probe.
36:37 – Ol’ Yellow Eyes is a twisted firestarter.
37:05 -Apparently Sam shares Daddy’s death wish and Dean doesn’t. I would have bet good money it would be the other way around.
38:17 – “If hunting this demon means you getting yourself killed then I hope we never find the damn thing.” – Who are you and what have you done with Dean Winchester?
39:54 – I knew that “To Be Continued…” had to be coming. Doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

So, yeah. A whole lot of rich plotty goodness (with marrow bone jelly) going on in this episode, as can fairly be inferred by the sheer number of bullet points above. It’s kind of hard to comment on what is fundamentally half an episode story wise, and it’s even harder to hold off from firing up the second part and watching it right now, but it’s late and these posts take a significantly bigger chunk of time than the episodes alone do. There are plenty of threads brought up here and they obviously all relate to the metaplot of the season, which is the element I’ve most enjoyed. There’s so much I need to have answered and the episode’s cliffhanger “What happened to Daddy Winchester?” is probably the least of them. I want to know why Ol’ Yellow Eyes is interested in six month old babies, what Meg’s partner’s deal is, what Ol’ Yellow Eyes’ deal is, Heck, why does Ol’ Yellow Eyes even have yellow eyes instead of the standard black? This was a great set up episode and it gave the boys a minor victory over the season’s Big Bad by saving the baby. I get the feeling the next episode is going to be utterly epic. I can’t wait.

And I figure I’ll take a proper break after I’m done with the season and concentrate on NaNoWriMo, so don’t expect any of these “Live” blogs on the second season until December.

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #20 – “Dead Man’s Blood”

Posted on October 27, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 20 – “Dead Man’s Blood”

01:14 – This guy in the teaser has a very similar journal to Daddy Winchester’s. I’m assuming he’s also something of a hunter type.
02:22 – She must be a terrible barmaid. If someone orders “Jack all around,” you don’t generally grab a bottle of Johnny Walker.
03:23 – By the way black jacket woman pulled that blade out of her chest, she’s clearly not human. What is she?
04:33 – That gun must be pretty significant for the show to linger on it, and for evil woman creature to specifically call it out.
06:12 – It seems that our gentleman of the Inevitable Teaser Death has some kind of connection with Daddy Winchester. At least his name and number are in the journal.
09:38 – Daddy just scared the unholy hell out of his boys. Serves them right for stealing his mail.
10:30 – Daddy Winchester doesn’t get along well with many folks does he?
11:06 – Judging by that freak-out this antique Colt must be a big deal.
11:25 – They fight ghosts,demons and witches on the reg but Dean finds vampires to be a stretch? O-kaay then…
12:47 – Pretending to be roadkill is an awesome way to bait a trap.
14:11 – Daddy giving Dean crap about the (awesome) car. He’s kind of a grump.
16:29 – You go girl! Spitting beer into sleazy vampire’s face.
17:58 – Got to credit Luther (the lead vampire) with some genre savvy here. He realizes that attacking a hunter will bring others looking for them. Considering what the Winchesters are doing right now, he’s not wrong.
19:52 – Wow, Sam’s daddy issues make him card of hardcore.
21:32 – I think they just turned the female prisoner into a vampire. It’s kind of hard to tell because it’s so dark, and because I think they were trying to be titillating with the direction. It fell flat.
22:41 – Daddy’s truck armory rather puts the Impala’s version to shame.
23:48 – Backstory for the gun given, as well as an explanation of why Daddy Winchester wants it so bad. Reading between the lines it seems like this gun is the only thing that can kill – not just exorcise or banish, outright kill the demon that got Mommy Winchester and Dead Jessica.
26:48 – Okay, she was definitely turned. And her roar when Sam tries to save her is a very sneaky way fr this vampire nest to have a burglar alarm.
29:44 – Sam getting to enjoy some serious father/son bonding here. Some wonderful subtle emoting on Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s part.
30:16 – “Whatever happened to that college fund?” “Spent it on ammo.” And for the second time this season, the show caused my the pain of shooting a carbonated beverage out of my nose.
30:51 – I assume that jar is the eponymous “Dead Man’s Blood.”
30:53 – Dean’s faking car trouble, using the vamp’s own methods (see 12:47) against them. This could be good.
32:23- And in homage to one of the most well known horror cliches, the vampire that dies first is… the African-American dude.
33:25 – Whoa. Dean taking Sam’s side in the omnipresent father/son argument might be the biggest shock of the episode.
37:43 – Daddy’s willing to trade (and presumably let unlive?) the female vamp for the Colt. He’s rather more ruthless than Sam and Dean, presumably because he’s been hunting for a lot longer.
38:32 – Well, now Daddy Winchester is buggered. Metaphorically speaking.
39:53 – That’s a spectacular looking death for Luther, and proof that the Colt works every time. It’s also used up 20% of the remaining ammo. They’re going to have to be careful going after this demon thing.
41:12 -I literally fist-pumped after Daddy Winchester said “We’ll go after this damn thing. Together.”

So far I’ve really enjoyed every episode that Daddy Winchester has appeared in. This one was certainly no exception to that. They’ve also now acquired a method of taking care of the demon that’s been driving the plot of the show since the pilot. Plus we are getting close to the season finale (only two episodes left this season), so I imagine some really big stuff is going to go down. Especially now that the Winchesters are hunting as a triad. I imagine that the next two episodes will effectively be a two parter and am looking forward to it.

This episode was more of a table setting one,but it had some good moments of its own as well. Establishing vampires and how they differ from the standard lore in the show’s universe makes sense. I’m honestly surprised it took them until this late in the season to get there considering the ubiquity of vampires in pop culture. Another highlight was the scene between Sam and his father where we realize that they aren’t that different from each other, and how Daddy Winchester never wanted the hunting life for his boys. Actually the character development and dynamics between all three of the male Winchesters were excellent. As was this episode.

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #19 – “Provenance”

Posted on October 26, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 19 – “Provenance”

00:01 – No “Previously on Supernatural” this episode. Instead straight into the teaser.
00:37- Which means that this couple of art buyers will get to be the Inevitable Teaser Deaths faster than usual.
01:10 – Faces moving in the painting, and not in that goofy Harry Potter way.
02:23 – Well she’s definitely dead, looks like a throat slashing. Lots and lots of blood, too.
02:27 – And now he’s dead.
04:40- Dean clearly not thinking with his upstairs brain so far.
05:31 – Jensen Ackles does convincing hungover acting… Also is the fancy car with a “THEKRIP” license plate a joke about show creator Eric Kripke?
06:06 – I like the running gag of Dean grabbing whatever food is nearby. In this case it’s mini-quiches. Also, the boys look super underdressed here. Shold have at least suited up.
07:04 – That’s definitely not American Primitive, lady.
07:17 – Oh, it was a test. That’s… actually quite clever.
08:10 – “We don’t have to be told twice.” “Apparently, you do.” Hee.
08:48- Disco-themed motel room! That. Is. Awesome!
09:24 – Once again, Dean seems incredibly keen on getting his little bro laid. Admittedly, there’s an ulterior motive here due to the case but I don’t think that would make much of a difference.
10:43 – Had they established before now what Sam was studying at Stanford? Pre-law seems an odd fit for the character. I totally buy that he would have taken an art history class to meet girls though.
11:47 – If you’d do something about that terrible hair, Sam, then I’m sure Sarah and any future dates would drop that “reasonably.”
13:15 – Nice bit of research matching the provenances to the names in Daddy Winchester’s journal.
13:18 – Fantastic smash cut to the boys engaging in a bit of breaking and entering.
14:42 – Burning the painting clearly won’t work – there’s simply too much time left in the episode. Plus it looks like it’s reforming in the frame as it burns.
15:56 – Nice wallet bluff there, Dean. You really do want your little brother to get some, don’t you?
18:47 – Exposition guy expounding on the history of the Isaiah Merchant family seems entirely too cheerful about the concept of slitting throats with a straight razor.
20:32 – So Dean’s hoping that if Sam gets some action he’ll be less moody. I sort of get that.
22:58 – The painting claims another victim, but I don’t think we saw her prior to this, so no real impact for the death.
24:01 – The woman’s head tilting back away from her slit throat like that was a fantastic shot, and totally earned Sarah’s scream.
26:04 – “Sam, marry that girl.” I guess Dean’s pushing them for more than a hookup after all. Also,on an utterly shallow level, the braids in her hair look really good.
28:06 – Breaking into a mausoleum seems almost humdrum for the boys, so it’s nice to see Sarah come along and find it weird.
30:38 – So, Sam does want Sarah but he’s doing the noble thing in not dating her so that she doesn’t get hurt. I imagine Dead Jessica is weighing heavily on his mind.
34:06 – Dean still trying to set Sam and Sarah up. You have to admire his persistence.
34:33 – The sound of a little girl giggling is surprisingly chilling. Apparently it wasn’t old Isaiah doing the throat slitting.
37:13 – And Sarah comes through with the idea to make the save. Also, I found those dolls creepy enough before watching the show, finding out that they have real human hair certainly doesn’t lessen that sense of unease.
38:18 – Nice intercutting between Sam & Sarah under attack and Dean doing his thing at the mausoleum. I’m also amused by Dean getting frustrated that he can’t crack the glass with the butt of his gun before realizing that he can just shoot the damn glass with said gun.
42:17 – At least they finally kiss. (Sarah & Sam, not the brothers…)

I liked this one. The introduction of Sarah to the actual hunt switched up the character dynamics between Sam & Dean a little. It also was a nice character beat to see Sam start to work his way past Dead Jessica. It makes sense given the time frame and the immense stress the hunting life style must cause. Also, the twist that it wasn’t Isaiah who was responsible for the murders was done well. Another great standalone episode. The show has figured out its strengths for the most part, and this episode played to them.

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #18 – “Something Wicked”

Posted on October 26, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 18 – “Something Wicked”

02:41 – So far the teaser feels kind of like a fairy tale, what with the Mom not being around, the point-of-view character being a little girl and the idea that there might be something out there. Of course, the original forms of most fairy tales are very, very dark so that might not be an entirely comforting milieu. I don’t think the little girl will get an Inevitable Teaser Death as the show has been reluctant to kill children, because network television.
03:46 – “Because I’m the oldest which means I’m always right.” As the oldest child in my family, I am totally in simpatico with Dean’s viewpoint here.
06:14 – How would you even have a fake ID with “bikini inspector” on it?
08:07 – So it looks like a degenerative coma is how they are getting around the not killing kids on TV thing.
10:07 – Ooh! Flashback Dean!
10:47 – Flashback Sam is watching Thundercats. Snarf! Snarf!
13:04 – Kid checking them in just fills the phrase “Two Queens” with double entendre.
17:48 – Room 237. Man, this show sure loves The Shining, at least the movie version thereof.
19:09 – Lady, that’s a cross, not a crucifix. You can tell by the lack of a Jesus.
21:44 – I like Dean bonding with Michael with the “big brother” thing, especially as prior to now I think it’s always been Sam connecting to the children throughout the season.
22:45 – Ogdenville, North Haverbrook & Brockway? Nice shout out to the greatest Simpsons episode ever! (“Marge vs. the Monorail,” if you aren’t sure)
23:43 – So, the shtriga is hiding as the doctor. That’s pretty damned sneaky.
25:52 – Time for Dean to launch into an angsty guilt-ridden flashback.
28:15 – Apparently this thing tried to feed off of Sam while Dean abandoned him to hit the video game arcade. Kind of explains Dean’s slight overprotectiveness towards his little bro.
32:43 – The kid’s a pretty decent actor.
36:43 – That’s a lot of shots for two handguns.
38:03 – Yeah, I think I’d keep shooting the sumbitch just to make sure. Also liked the thematic tie in to the flashbacks by having the shtriga begin consuming Sam again, trying to finish up the meal it started sixteen years back.

There wasn’t a whole lot to this episode. It seemed very much a rote,monster of the week type of story. It certainly wasn’t bad, and the tie in to Dean’s past guilt and the flashbacks worked really well in upping the stakes. I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel like there’s much to say about the episode that I haven’t already covered in the bullet points.

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #17 – “Hell House”

Posted on October 25, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 17 – “Hell House”

01:05 – A group of teens approaching a sinister house in the woods? There is literally no way in which this could go badly.
03:17 – Ooh a hanging dead girl. I guess that does count as scary, though the acting in this teaser is ridiculously camp. I half expect there to be a green-shirted stoner and a massive Great Dane cowering in the corner.
04:03 – Taking a cellphone photo of a sleeping Sam with a plastic spoon in his mouth? I guess the episode isn’t going to be taking itself very seriously. Can this show even do “funny” episodes?
04:38 – Dean used to put Nair in Sam’s shampoo? We finally have an official backstory to the Sam Winchester Hair of Terribleness!
06:40 – Okay this montage of utterly unreliable eyewitnesses is bloody hilarious, and a bit of Blue Öyster Cult on the soundtrack helps it kick butt.
10:15 – I’m pretty sure that one of those graffiti symbols is the Blue Öyster Cult logo. Weirdest product placement tie-in ever.
So the symbols aren’t written in blood, but freshly painted. Is someone trying to pull a Scooby-Doo scam for real? “And I’d have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling Winchesters!” – I think that makes Sam officially Velma. Jinkies!
11:56 – Zeddmore & Spengler? Wow, the only Ghostbusters reference that could be more blatant than that would be a “Who ya gonna call? “
13:09 – So these guys are clearly a parody of what Sam & Dean would be in real life, right? Is the show going meta and mocking itself?
14:13 – Ah, the old “blast the car radio upon ignition” prank, one of my favorites.
17:26 – Actually hanging people seems to be taking this prank thing a bit too far. Don’t be this guy.
18:46 – They did it. They actually did it.They had Dean shout out “Who you gonna call?” Somewhere, Huey Lewis’ legal team just started salivating.
24:13 – Seriously, did Blue Öyster Cult pay to feature in this episode? Also, I’m weirdly proud that I figured out that the sigil was a BOC logo way before Dean did.
25:58 – Itching powder in the clothes. This episode is so immature and goofy, I kind of love it.
26:09 – Shirtless Sam in a towel is purely there for the fan girls, right?
27:09 – D:”People believe in Santa Claus, how come I’m not hooked up every Christmas?” S:”Because you’re a bad person.” I laughed so hard at this exchange that I have soda burning through my nose.
29:21 – Did the dorktastic duo really just say “What would Buffy Do?” My eyes rolled so hard I can see the back of my skull.
31:39 – I guess that’s the paranormal equivalent of a snipe hunt.
32:41 – Exploiting the viral nature of the web to give the Tulpa a vulnerability was very smart of Sam.Gluing Dean’s hand to his beer was a pretty damned good prank too.
36:36 – I guess arson is one way to deal with a haunted house.
38:16 – So was this “producer” really Sam or Dean? I’m saying Sam as it seems too abstract to be a Dean prank.
39:05 – Yep, Sam.

This was a realcurate’s egg of an episode. While it makes sense to go a little lighthearted after the intensity of last time, not all of the humor lands as well as t should. The prank war between the brothers works great, as does there usual back and forth banter.Unfortunately the dorktastic duo just plain aren’t funny while the episode seems to think they are hilarious. I think this show can do comedy episodes, and will likely do them well in the future, this one struggles a little bit. Of course humor is very subjective, so that might just be me.

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #16 – “Shadow”

Posted on October 24, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 16 – “Shadow”

00:58 – Inevitable Teaser Death this episode is a young woman listening to an iPod. Since the previouslies featured Meg who we last saw indulging in some kind of blood ritual, I’m guessing that cause of Inevitable Teaser Death will be “human sacrifice.”
02:05 – Spooky voice on the wind/shadowy entity tells us that Inevitable Teaser Death girl is named Meredith.
03:42 – Okay, the killing shown purely as shadows and blood spatter was an absolutely fantastic shot.
05:13 – Being from the alarm company is a pretty good cover. Props to Sam for that idea. Though the alarm was “as useful as boobs on a man” as the neighbor lady put it.
06:55 – It took her heart? That seems like it would narrow things down somewhat.
07:47 – Connecting blood spots with tape to reveal a symbol is pretty clever. Don’t think I’ve seen that before.
08:39 – “You mind doing a little thinking with your upstairs brain, Dean?” – Sammy’s getting sassy!
09:41 – Meg showing up in the bar would have been quite the reveal if the previouslies hadn’t telegraphed it.
11:16 – Deeply impressive side-eye work from Mr. Ackles.
12:54 – Glad to see Sam suspects that Meg is up to something. He’s right in that random coincidences don’t happen to the brothers Winchester.
14:35 – So the shadow thing was a daeva – “The Pit Bull of Demons,” according to Dean. And since this was 2006 we can assume he means the dogs and not the terrible rapper.
15:16 – Dean’s determination to get his little brother laid would be skeevy enough even if we didn’t know Meg was kind of evil (and I’m guessing she’s the one controlling the daeva, which means she’s bloody powerful.)
18:24 – Look’s like Meg’s going to indulge in a weird blood rite again. At least this time Sam will witness it.
20:32 – Meg’s altar has the daeva symbol drawn on it in blood. She’s definitely controlling them. Not that that really counts as a reveal.
20:49 – “So Sammy’s got a thing for the bad girl.” Dean is the snark master.
23:50 – Interesting that Sam would go back to school and a normal life after they deal with the demon that got their Mom. He really is determined to be the white sheep of the family.
24:51 – I’m thinking the subtext to this conversation is what launched roughly eleventy-billion Wincest fan fictions.
26:54 – I thought she knew they were there.
27:38 – Love the shadow attacks. Plus the wound on Sam’s face means that his hair is longer the most terrible looking thing about his head.
28:01 – “Don’t take this the wrong way, but your girlfriend is a bitch.” Once again, Dean Winchester reign as the king of Snark Mountain.
28:49 – Oh, the brothers are just bait. That has to hurt their egos.
30:46 – Meg is giving off a kind of rape-y vibe here. Also her villainous monologue has revealed that Daddy Winchester is in town, so I imagine he’ll show up in the episode soon.
32:10 – Damn, Sam! Great form on that headbutt. Kind of dumb to do it while you have an open wound dripping blood down your face though.
32:27 – Since the altar’s been destroyed, it looks like Meg’s getting hoist by her own petard. Also, since the daeva’s are now running amok uncontrolled, I feel like the brothers should follow Commander Kruge’s advice.
33:23 – Kind of surprised they didn’t check on Meg’s body to make real damned sure she was dead.
33:42 – It’s Daddy Winchester! Family reunion time.
36:23 – Bloody shadow demons, always interrupting heartfelt family moments. I know it makes my Thanksgiving parties a real bitch.
36:34 – Meg’s walking around again. Clearly she’s not human. The boys should have burned and salted the body after she took the dive, just to be safe. After all, even if she were human, worst case scenario, they have fifty-ish pounds of Meg jerky.
37:31 – Light flares as a way of dealing with shadow demons seems logical. Nice job with the book learnin’, Sammy
39:13 – While they’ve done a great job demonstrating why Daddy Winchester and the boys would be safer apart, I can’t help agree with Sam that they would be better off and more proactive in getting the demon if the triumvirate stayed together.

Okay, that was freaking awesome. Tied into the season’s metaplot in a big way. Indeed it was so concerned with the overall season arc that the daevas, ostensibly the monsters of the week, were merely a MacGuffin to get the real meat of the episode started. The return of Meg and her thematic ties to the demon that killed Mommy Winchester and Dead Jessica led to some crackling frisson between the characters, and of course the reunion, however short-lived, between the boys and their father was definitely a moment, and felt like it had been earned. I don’t imagine we’ll see Daddy Winchester again before the season finale in six episodes time, and episodes like this make me impatient to get there. Fantastic!

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #15 – “The Benders”

Posted on October 23, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 15 – “The Benders”

01:37 – The presumed Inevitable Teaser Death guy is being watched from a bedroom window by a slightly creepy kid, and for a second I wonder if the episode is going to riff on Hitchcock’s Rear Window
02:08 – Okay, the Winchester boys are pretending to be cops, and the reveal of this is…Sam taking off his policeman’s cap to unveil his legendary terrible hair.
04:56 – I misread the “Kugel’s Keg” bar sign as “Kegels Keg” and was wondering just exactly what kind of bar was this?
05:31 – We have (I think) the show’s first cat jump scare. The close captioning reads “[Meowing Angrily]” which seems oddly specific.
07:18 – Looks like Sam has been abducted from the obvious sound stage, I mean parking lot, by whatever our monster of the week is.
08:09- They remembered the continuity detail that officially speaking Dean is dead and the prime suspect as a serial killer. That was nine whole episodes ago!
08:53 – For someone who regularly faces all kinds of monsters, Dean looks positively petrified at the thought of doing paperwork.
09:44 – Despite all his rage, he’s still just a Sam in a cage.
10:55 – Literally the only way that van could seem more suspicious was if someone had crudely written “Free Candy,” on the sides.
11:40 – Turns out that Inevitable Teaser Death guy was in fact merely Teaser Kidnapping Victim guy. I give him a 15% chance of making it out of the episode alive.
12:53 – It appears that the monsters of the week are just plain old human beings.
14:15 – She ran Dean’s badge? He’s screwed. Royally.
14:38 – I like the sheer brazenness of Dean’s denial that he’s not the rather large African-American in the badge photo- “I lost some weight and I got that Michael Jackson skin disease.”
16:47 – I agree with Sam that the escape was too easy. I expect it’s a trap for Teaser Kidnapping Victim, but he’s been kind of whiny and annoying so let him die.
17:43 – Convenient knife just lying on the floor. Yeah, it’s a trap.
19:08 – So the villains of the piece are some very redneck hunters after The Most Dangerous Game.
19:21 – Dean’s luck is indeed so pressed, but at least he has no Whammies
20:38 – How did he not see that cuffing coming? I saw that cuffing coming and I might be the least genre savvy person alive.
22:14 – Missy here is weirdly reminding me of the X-Files episode “Home,” which also involved sinister rednecks (and is often nominated as the creepiest episode of that show)
22:51 – Okay, the father/daughter vibe here seems borderline incestual and now I’m convinced this is basically that X-Files episode. Which makes Dean Mulder and Deputy Kathleen Scully.
27:30 – Those are some grisly trophies, even if some of the eyeglasses look fashionable.
28:14 – “Demons, I get. People are crazy.” Preach it, Dean.
31:10 – Kudos to the foley artist, this beating that Dean is receiving from the family o’ rednecks sounds utterly freaking brutal.
34:02 – “Eat me. Oh, no-no-no, wait-wait-wait, you actually might.” – Haha.
35:05 – I’m assuming Dean choosing Sam as the animal is because he thinks his brother would be more resourceful and likely to survive than Deputy Kathleen
35:37 – Pappy is really a sick son of a bitch. Ordering the boys to just shoot both hostages in the cages without any hunts after torturing Dean with a Sophie’s Choice style dilemma.
37:51 – This rednecks vs. Sam/Kathleen cat & mouse in the dimly lit basement/outbuilding is tense as hell.
38:18 – Did she just drop from the ceiling on him? Bad. Ass.
39:52 – “Because it’s fun.” Pappy really is a sick bastard, and I’m 98% sure that Kathleen’s gonna shoot him in the head within the next two seconds.
39:54 – Precisely two seconds. Damn, I’m good.
41:34 – “It was really hard not knowing what happened to him. I thought it’d be easier if I knew the truth but it isn’t really.” I’m wondering if that’s a little bit of subtle foreshadowing about what will happen when the boys confront the demon(entity?) that killed Mommy Winchester and Dead Jessica.

Interesting twist in making the villains of this episode humans rather than anything remotely supernatural. It ups the “ick” factor considerably when you add that veneer of plausibility. The fact that the episode (and presumably the redneck family) are named after an actual family of murderers. I will say that this episode felt as X-Files as all get out. In addition to the similarities mentioned up there in those bullet points there was the sense of claustrophobia and general shooting style with the dungeon basement scenes in particular. A pretty solid standalone episode.

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #14 – “Nightmare”

Posted on October 19, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 14 – “Nightmare”

01:33 – We begin with a guy who I assume to be Inevitable Teaser Death Man being unable to shut off his car in an enclosed garage. I immediately worry that this going to be another haunted vehicle episode, like the last one.
02:22 – Apparently the death of Inevitable Teaser Death Man was one of Sam’s dreams. A “Nightmare,” if you will. Perhaps they could use that as an episode title.
03:15 – “A normal, everyday, naked-in-class nightmare.” Oh, Dean Winchester, you are truly the King of Snark
04:21 – Get him a body bag, yeah!
05:36 – That teenager standing with Inevitable Teaser Death guy’s family looks super creepy.
07:19 – The brothers as priests is an amazing visual. Sam’s right though, this is definitely a whole new low for them.
07:23 – Fathers Simmons and Freeley. You might be in Michigan (Vancouver edition) but this isn’t Detroit Rock City, Dean.
08:22 – I’d totally steal a (non-pork) cocktail wiener or two in Dean’s place.
09:06 – Creepy teen is apparently Inevitable Teaser Death Man’s son and also named Max Miller. Going by the Stan Lee Rule of Alliterative Names, he has superpowers.
11:51 – Dean dressed as a priest and waving that laser doohickey around is a completely absurd visual.
13:26 – Sam’s psychic headaches can’t be good.
14:26 – Very claustrophobic direction on this scene with the window acting weird. Adds to the tension and paranoia.
15:05 – Decapitation by defenestration! You don’t see that every day. Plus that’s a lot of blood in this dude’s head.
15:14 – Oh it’s more of Sam having The Shining. Or more The Dead zone, sticking with King and considering the death focused nature so far.
16:24 – Sam: “It’s never been in the family like this.” Apart from in the pilot where it was your mother, or four episodes ago when it was sort of your mother again in your childhood home. Or how this whole season was motivated by you two thinking it was something that got Daddy Winchester. But aside from it involving your Mother, your Father and now you, you’re right Sam, it’s never been in the family. I think that terrible hair may be eating his brain cells.
17:45 – The camera work is making this fire escape look genuinely threatening.
18:05 – The blood spattered window helps the unsettling tone. And it looks like we’re down another Miller.
19:49 – That’s a lot of tuna casseroles.
21:03 – Max is clearly hiding something, and just his Stan Lee-given super powers.
22:27 – So, Inevitable Teaser Death Man was a violently abusive drunk towards young Max. I think our young not yet superhero must be the prime suspect here. Perhaps he was bitten by a radioactive Helen Mirren?
23:03 – Looks like it’s time for more Sam-O-Vision…
23:29 – Max appears to have telekinetic powers and is calling out his stepmom for not stopping the abuse from our two corpses of the episode so far. I’m guessing that nice big knife is going to be all stabbity stab in a minute. So, will the Brothers Winchester get to the step mom before this Sam premonition comes true?
23:51 – Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!
25:41 – That’s a very shiny gun
26:03 – “Fathers?” I smirked at the step mom still thinking the Winchesters are priests.
26:56 – Max spotted Dean’s gun. Stuff is about to go down.
27:43 – When the guy waving a gun around and yelling is calling you nuts, you might be a little far gone.
28:41 – Kind of liking Deans’s reluctance to leave Sam & Max alone.
29:40 – Those are some gnarly wounds.
31:38 – Holy crap, Max’s mom died the same way as Mommy Winchester and Dead Jessica did. Could Sam and Max’s psychic powers be tied in to whatever malevolent entity was responsible?
32:50 – “For some reason you and I were chosen.” “For what?” Damned good question there, Max.
34:15 – Like R Kelly, Sam is now trapped in the closet.
34:45 – Pretty sure this scene of Max confronting Dean and the apathetic step-mom with a gun is a glorious Sam-o-vision
35:25 – Bullet through Dean’s head and epic amounts of blood. Yeah, this is a vision.
35:44 – Now Sam has telekinesis. An interesting development.
36:44 – Swerve! I thought Sam had gotten through, and then Max commits suicide by telekinetic gunshot. Never saw that coming.
38:58 – I think that’s the longest sustained praise Sam has given to Daddy Winchester since the show began.
40:34 – Happy that Sam isn’t keeping his new-found telekinesis ability from Dean this time.

I was already liking this episode a lot because the mystery of the episode plot was going well, the deaths were sufficiently creepy and atmospherically shot, and Max as the abuse victim lashing out at the abusers worked for me as motivation. Then the reveal that Max’s real mom was killed by the demon that’s been targeting the Winchesters tied things into the seasonal myth arc. That bumped it up, got my attention even more and makes me wonder if the psychic abilities Sam is manifesting might actually be a source of evil.

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #13 – “Route 666”

Posted on October 18, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 13 – “Route 666”

00:59 – Whoever is driving that truck is gunning it so hard that the engine sounds like a Formula 1 car.
01:10 – Looks like this week we’re getting double dose of cliches, both an Inevitable Teaser Death and a Black Dude Dies First.
02:40 – Ghost Truck! You know, that idea kind of sucked when it was Maximum Overdrive and that at least had AC/DC music to redeem it.
04:20 – I assume this Cassie has to be something damned special for Dean to break the masquerade for her.
04:35 – Oh, Jared Padalecki, you’re not good at conveying anger here, it comes off like being scolded by a slightly maddened sheep.
05:15 – Hmm, racial subtext kind of becoming text. Not sure that’s a wise move.Also, the mayor is wearing a bolo tie. He’s clearly of the devil.
07:59 – Episode is kind of boring so far. Though I do have Simon & Garfunkel stuck in my head due to Dean referring to Cassie’s mom as Mrs Robinson.
10:22 – Yay! The boys are suiting up. The Winchesters look 20% more badass in suits, even if it’s just to attend a funeral. Suits even upgrade Sam’s hair from “terrible” to “almost redeemable.”
11:52 – And our exposition fairy of the week is random African-American guy who worked with Cassie’s dad.
13:36 – Sam sounds almost gleeful when he realizes that Cassie dumped Dean.
16:13 – Did they just hook up by fighting?
16:40 – Blind Faith, you aren’t bad, but you still aren’t AC/DC.
17:48 – Well, Ghost Truck isn’t racist as it’s pursuing Mayor Bolo Tie
22:49 – Uh oh, Cassie’s about to get real trucked up. Also, the actress is wearing the heck out of those jeans.
24:48 – Dean going for the “blunt force metaphor” approach of winning over Mrs Robinson’s sympathy. Not really working.
25:26 – Ooh, did Mommy Robinson kill Cyrus?
27:15 – Supernatural, one of the few network shows willing to talk about burning a children’s church choir to death. I blame an enraged Sesame Street fan sick of episodes brought to you by the letters ‘C,’ ‘H,’ and the number ‘6.’
29:09 – I feel the need to apologize to Mayor Bolo Tie. It seems he was a vaguely decent mam after all.
31:39 – I missed something. Where did the boys get that tractor from?
32:25 – Body burning time!
32:54 – “So burning the body had no effect on that thing?” “Sure it did. Now it’s really pissed.” Heh.
34:26 – They better not damage the car. It’s one of my favorite characters.
35:32 – I’m still bemoaning the lack of AC/DC. The truck/car chase needed some “Highway to Hell”
36:11 – Okay, the truck dissolving right there was a pretty bloody great visual.
36:54 – “Maybe!?” I laughed at that line from Dean.
37:51- Ouch. Welcome back to Dumpsville, Dean.

You might have gathered this from the above, but I really didn’t care for this episode. It was kind of dull, which means the show is 0 for 2 when vehicles figure heavily into the plots so far. The Dean/Cassie romance plot at least livened up proceedings somewhat but this doesn’t seem the sort of show that can sustain long relationships of that nature so I kind of assumed that the pair wouldn’t be a couple by the time the credits rolled around.

I liked the idea of tackling some of the sordid history of race relations with the police and interracial couples and so forth in the USA’s recent past, but I’m not sure a show whose leads are two lily white boys ostensibly from Kansas is the right one to be telling that story.

Also for some kind of demonic, hellfire inspired truck it looked way too ordinary as a villain. Couldn’t the show have stolen a leaf from Ghost Rider‘s handbook and have it belching flames or something.

Lost Limey Watches Supernatural #12 – “Faith”

Posted on October 9, 2014 by lost_limey

Season 1 Episode 12 – “Faith”

00:49 – Huh, the teaser features Sam and Dean, not our usual Inevitable Death types.
02:09 – Kinda liking how the teaser feels like the climax of an episode. It implies that there’s a whole raft of Winchester adventures that we aren’t privy to.
02:41 Rawhead: “Don’t taze me, bro!”
03:01 – Dean mixing water and electricity didn’t go well for him? What a shocker. Wait, does that make Dean the Inevitable Teaser Death?
04:18 – Not dead, just a bad heart. Or a ‘dicky ticker’ if you’re stereotypically British. Though apparently he will be dead in a month.
04:42 – “That fabric softener teddy bear. I want to hunt that little bitch down.” – And I thought my Murder Dog theory was from out of left field.
05:25 – Dean’s somewhat glib acceptance of impending death feels out of character. Sam’s angsting over it feels entirely in character though.
06:43 – Quoth he of the terrible hair: “You know this whole ‘I laugh in the face of death’ thing. It’s crap. I can see right through it.” For once, I’m on Sam’s side.
07:34 – A faith healer? I am no longer on Sam’s side.
08:21 – “How can you be a skeptic with the things we see every day?” – A question I always wanted Mulder to ask Scully in the first four or so X-Files seasons.
08:33 – Is that Darla? I can’t stop myself making Buffy comparisons if you’re going to cast actual Buffy actors, show.
08:41 – Darla is actually “Layla” and when I hear the character name I get stuck with an Eric Clapton earworm.
09:57 – Oh, this preacher. The last thing I heard from Nebraska with an accent this Southern was Larry The Cable Guy.
10:47 – Dean gets to be the first guest on stage and is massively, hilariously uncomfortable with it.
12:31 – Did Preacher Man just knock Dean unconscious? I bit that’s a bit of info his son didn’t share with Dusty Springfield.
12:45 – Interesting creepy grey ghost-like figure just flashed on screen behind Preacher Man
13:00 – Dean was genuinely healed? I guess that’s the episode done then. I assume the next half hour will consist of the Winchester brothers doing the Carlton dance.
13:52 – Oh, the irony of Dean accusing Sam of needing a little faith. Trying to decide between the George Michael or Buffy references…
15:05 – So Preacher Man got his powers whilst in a coma. I’d guess demonic possession but he doesn’t appear to have the black smoky eyes, just the squinty blind ones.
15:42 – “A young man with an important purpose. A job to do.” So I guess Dean is the latest of a long line of Chosen Ones in genre media.
17:04 – So Layla/Darla has some kind of illness. Probably a side effect from her vampirism.
17:43 – I guess an inoperable brain tumor is a kind of vampire.
19:09 – So Preacher Man is a conduit for illness, passing it from those he heals to other poor schmucks. That’s a black little twist on faith healing
20:14 – Dean identifies the figure I mentioned at 12:45 as a “Reaper,” and we cut to it chasing a jogger. On the soundtrack? “Don’t Fear The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult. A little on the nose,but also hilarious. (Actually, on the Netflix version I’m watching it was “Death in the Valley” by Death Riders, but I check to see if music was changed for rights reasons after I’m done writing these)
21:25 – So in the Supernatural universe the Grim Reaper is represented by multiple semi-spiritual beings known collectively as Reapers. Interesting bit of mythology building.
22:49 – So Sam won’t cross the line and kill a human being, regardless of reasons. While I support his stance, I think the fact that it seems Dean is willing to cross that line could generate some interesting stories down the line.
23:47 – A line Sam will cross: breaking into a blind Preacher Man’s house
24:30 – I guess blind guys suck at dusting. It’s why Stevie Wonder’s mansion is a metaphorical pig sty.
25:47 – It seems Preacher Man is directing his pet Reaper at those that don’t fit his definition of morality. A problematic approach to spree killing, to put it mildly.
26:03 – Layla! (You got me on my knees) Come on down! You’re the next contestant on The Life is Right!
28:02 – First Amendment scholars might frown upon Dean shouting “Fire!” in a crowded tent, but I maintain that his shenanigans are cheeky and fun
28:44 – So Preacher Man isn’t responsible. Who could it be now?
28:53 – Mrs. Preacher Man is the guilty party. She was one endearingly Southern “bless your heart” away from being my prime suspect
29:58 – “The Lord will deal with him as he sees… fit.” Mrs Preacher Man is a stone cold bitch, y’all.
30:54 – Dean has some survivor’s guilt about being healed and Layla not being. If it wasn’t for the whole collateral deaths thing that would be a lot harder to parse out.
31:08 – I don’t think Preacher Man realizes that his “gift” has a terrible, terrible cost. Which means that he’s that rare TV creature, an honest man of faith.
32:07 – “God save us from half the people who think they’re doing God’s work.” Amen to that, Dean.
33:19 – That lingering camera shot is making me wonder if Dean plans to sacrifice himself to the Reaper to heal Layla
34:47 – The canine minion of Murder Dog provided an excellent jump scare. To the point that my flinch spilled my coffee.
35:34 – Yeah, that’s a creepy as f*** dark altar.
36:16 – Mrs Preacher Man be totes cray cray, y’all. And she reminds me of Kai Winn from Deep Space Nine with her condescending tendencies and obvious evil
36:49 – Dean is in the Reaper’s sights, and that bothers him a great deal. Kind of proves Sam’s point he made at 06:43
37:58 – The binding is broken. The Reaper is free. Methinks that Mrs Preacher Man is about to be in a whole world of hurt.
38:22 – This particular Reaper has quite the smile. It’s an almost predatory leer.
38:53 – Mrs Preacher Man has been Reaped, and I have no sympathy.
40:00 – I can’t decide if Sam tipping Layla off is kind of sweet or a dick move.
41:24 – “If you’re gonna have faith, you can’t just have it when the miracles happen.” I can’t improve on that sentiment.

As I have noted on this blog before, I am endlessly fascinated by the intersection of faith, religion and narrative (It’s one of the reasons that Dune is my favorite book), so as you can imagine, this episode really hit the sweet spot for me. It’s another episode that lays with Judeo-Christian imagery but takes it in a few unexpected directions in the name of world building. For example this establishes Reapers as an entire class of supernatural beings (no pun intended) and give the show its own twist on the idea of angels of death. I also liked that the show eschewed the usual hypocrisy of the religious character by making the Preacher Man a genuinely good man of faith who thought he was doing the Lord’s work. That’s a fairly rare thing in media that isn’t explicitly targeted at the Evangelical crowd.

One criticism of the episode is that it wasn’t as visually interesting as the last few episodes have been, but I’m not sure if that’s due to sub par direction from Allan Kroeker or if it’s simply the nature of the setting. It’s hard to make big tent spooky, after all.

All in all, a good episode with some great thematic meat to it. Though i’d prefer more than merely a rerun of Daddy’s voice mail to tie it in to the season arc so far.

Thoughts of a Lost Limey

Musings of an Englishman living in the USA. Job hunting, writing, random thoughts and anything else that strikes my fancy.

Monthly Archives: October 2014