Supernatural S08 E02 “What’s Up, Tiger Mommy”

Recap

Our brave duo and the tag-along are looking for the Word of God. The Prophet Kevin (TPK) insists on checking in on his Mom (Mrs. Tran, also Tiger Mom, because she’s a badass—and yes, I do understand the pop-culture reference); Dean balks but does so anyway. Demons are casing the house, and the Duo summarily dispatch of them. It turns out that a friend visiting Tiger Mommy is a demon as well, and as it tries to leave the body Sam performs the exorcising spell—in Latin—backwards—at a mind-boggling speed (out of hunting, my ass—what is going on here?!).

Heart-to-heart and two demon-warding tattoos later, TM and The Prophet Kevin join Sam and Dean in tracking down The Tablet. Lots of proper nouns this season. During an interrogation of a thief, Dean begins to have some seriously disturbing flashbacks of an interrogation scene in Purgatory. Those close-up shots were…sinister. Dean looked like a psychopath.

Anyway, we finally meet the right hand of Plutus, Beau. The show entitled Plutus as the God of Greed (really, it’s more mundane than that: try the god of wealth.) (I can also guarantee you that this page is seeing a huge uptick in hits tonight).  He informs them that there is an auction being held of legendary/magic/etc objects and Kevin, and by extension the other three, are invited. He promises no hijinks of the magical, duplicitous, or magically duplicitous.

Suffice to say, Beau lied. After a humorous bidding scene (the look on Crowley’s face after the 5/8ths of a virgin quip had me in hysterics), in which the Boys go through Plans A through D, Tiger Mommy ends up selling her soul to protect Kevin.

Oh, I mentioned that Beau lied? Right. Well, he chained Kevin’s fate to the Tablet’s, and since D/S didn’t have Vatican City, three billion dollars, or two tons of dwarf gold to exchange, they had to improvise. So, TM gave up her soul.

Interspersed in the bidding scene is a flashback where we find out that Dean finds Hot Wings (Castiel) and Hot Wings explains that he ran to save Dean from being hunted by Leviathan.

(Supernatural recaps are, alas, never short.)

Well… Crowley ends up getting away with the tablet. Beau burned off the demon-ward tattoo from TM’s arm, Crowley possessed her, stole the tablet, and Kevin prevented Dean from knifing his mom. Crowley ex-possesses himself, takes the tablet and leaves. TM is left catatonic. Dean regrets not knifing TM/C, saying that he could live with hating himself but he shouldn’t have let Crowley live, no matter who the meat-suit.

At the end of the episode, TPK and TM bolt, leaving Dean and Sam with nothing.

Reaction

I chuckled a lot through this episode. Dean tearing into that double cheeseburger, that dumbass at the pawn shop, the auction bidding, and, as always, Crowley and Dean have great one liners.

Again, Sam saying that incantation, in Latin, super-fast, and backwards was pretty thrilling! Go Sam! Also, not hunting, hmmm? Seems ‘spicious.

Crowley and Angel Alfie’s  bidding exchange…priceless.

The scene where Dean and Sam school TM on losing her soul was tragic, all around. Lot of pain in that room.

Sam + Mjölnir = bad-assery! (“Where’d you get that five-eighths of a virgin?”)

Report Card:

“I know we’re not mates, Kevin, but one word of advice: run. Run far, and run fast. ‘Cause the Winchesters, well, they have a habit of using people up and watching them die bloody.”—Crowley

A: The humor, both situational and dialogue. “Palin and a bridge to nowhere? No thanks.” “You think a man named Buzz goes to the moon without making a deal?”

The characterization and filling in of Dean’s Purgatory story. The Purgatory scenes in this episode are so. well. shot. The desaturated colors, the heightened sound and light. Dean, Benny and Castiel make for an uneasy, excellently acted trio.

Sam’s badassery is always refreshing, both that incredible backwards incantation and throwing Mjölnir.

The scene between TM, Sam and Dean talking about losing souls is so fucking tragic. There’s so much pain, sadness and confusion in that room.

Crowley. Always.

I really like Alfie the Angel, too. I hope we see him again

B: The pacing in the first half is disjointed. The latter half takes place in one geographic area, so that makes it naturally easier, but there is a lot of action crammed in the first half: Quest! (find the tablet), Obstacle! (visit Mom, dispatch demons), heart to heart with TM, getting demon-ward tattoos, deal with Euro-Trash Ferrari Dude…and we’re not even to the meat of the episode. I’m not sure how you could  make the exposition smoother, but I noticed it, so, well…

C: The background and transitional music. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE. It’s so damn distracting, especially whatever is over the ‘comic’ moments.

Overall…

This episode has great re-watch potential. I’ve already watched it twice over and enjoyed it each time. I think it’ll stand the test of time well.

I love the humor in Supernatural because without it, the show would crush me under the weight of all the tragic shit that piles up around Dean and Sam. I mean, when you really stop and think about some individual parts of the episode, like Cas’s heartbreak and guilt and TM’s willingness to give up her soul for her son and Dean’s maladjustment to topside life (“What’s one more nightmare, right?”)….well, it’s the stuff this show is made up of, and it’s just really…sad.

I would also be remiss without noting the Purgatory flashbacks. I love them. Really. Benny is shifty and opaque.The monsters are gruesome. Dean is gruesome, terrifying, especially in those first-person shots. Christ, then shoving his blade to the hilt under that guy’s jaw? Amazing, in the most appalling way possible.

Total: B+

Sons of Anarchy, S05 E05 “Orca Shrugged”

Well, well, well. That was awesome.

And by that I mean Walton Groggin’s cameo as Venus Van Damme, transvestite hooker galore. The other plot-lines of the show faltered around the magnificence and hilarity of her’s.  The plot machinations that brought her there were thinner than a nano-thread, but I still  laughed and covered my mouth in surprise through the whole ordeal. Amazing.

Too bad that the plot line directly attached to the central story weren’t as brilliant. Like I’ve said, my motto to TV shows is generally ‘wait and see’, but I know Sons can do better.

Report Card:

A: Venus Van Damme. Jax making decisions!, his own decisions!, about his long game strategy. The reappearance of a very gray-dignified Mayor Hale.  Tara receiving the good news that her hand is healing well. I really, really hope that this is legitimate good news for her character. I’m not sure how much more Tara can suffer and not completely snap before her credibility as a character is lost.  Jax telling Gemma, “I’m having a hard time separating my hate.” Damn, Hunnam is good.

B: Gemma’s vulnerability. Why B and not A? Because…something feels off about Gemma this season. I can understand her character vacillating wildly because she’s completely unmoored—a ship with no harbor, so to speak. That definitely happens to people. And she’s never been subtle. However,  the characterization is hitting a wrong note. I’m not sure that Gemma would show her desperation so publicly.

D: The Sheriff Roosevelt and Rita plot-line. The way this was set up (kissing her belly…really?!) and executed (a shot to the abdomen?) was…clunky. To say the least. So many small tweaks could have made it much more relatable: instead of kissing her belly, why not show her drinking ginger ale and eating saltines? Mentioning going in for beta/hcg draws, having morning sickness, getting an ultrasound. Subtle works, friends.

(I’m assuming because of their fertility troubles they were on a medicated cycle, maybe even IVF, which means that you need blood draws to confirm and ensure the stability of the pregnancy. The writers should know that since Tara is a neonatal surgeon, and this would be part of her expertise.)

I understand that they probably wanted the pregnancy in danger, but why? To call Tara in? To get her more involved with Rita? If that’s not the goal, then…what was the point?  Rita already has my sympathy as a character. I don’t need to see her pregnant belly shot.

Which, as much as I love Sons…the emotional weight of what happens can be unbearable. The VVD scene gave SOA the necessary levity to purchase a few more wrenching scenes, but not if they’re as poorly executed as that.

Overall

Slowly, slowly this seasons arc is moving forward. Galen and Jax are in business. Jax and Mayor Hale are in business. Foundation is being laid for a few potential above-board earners for the club. More impetus has been given to Roosevelt to figure out the home invasions, and he’s obviously going to be essential to the execution of that plot.

We’re almost at the season’s halfway point, and though SOA can turn on a dime, and though the latter parts of the seasons are usually strongest (save the totally incredible season 2), I’m not entirely sure where all of this is going.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Sing-Along Tuesdays

The Big Parade by The Lumineers.

(Sorry if the camerawork makes you seasick…it’s worth the listen, promise)

 

Retrospective: Supernatural S01 E12, “Faith”

Faith sets into motion many of the central emotional questions of Supernatural. What it means to die, what happens to those around us facing mortality, why fate chooses some and not others. More central to the show, Dean and Sam are asked for the first time: why you? Why have you two guys been chosen? And conversely Dean and Sam (especially Dean, in this episode) ask why us, why me?

Also, as a flip-side, we see that Sam never questions that Dean should be alive. As much as each brother asks himself why me, why us, they never waver in trying to save or redeem the other.

I like Faith because I connect with it on a personal level: I have been to many a faith-healer meeting. I was raised Baptist and did a short stint in a charismatic church. I’ll say—Jensen got the ‘healed by God’ fall pretty much perfect. Though I’ve never seen a preacher with glasses as cool as Roy’s.

When you’re in the auditorium and some are (seemingly) getting healed but others are walking away with a cross of humiliation and disappointment, crushed that they’re still sick, still dying, one does have to wonder…is it fake? And if it’s real, why them, not me? It’s a situation that’s charged with lots of drama, lots of heartbreak, and as much joy as sorrow. Though the audience is happy enough in Roy’s tent, there is confusion and angst happening outside, mostly shown to us by Layla (Julie Benz) and her mother.

Faith is also the first time that Dean has to deal with his mortality. He’s brought back at the expense of someone else, and that makes him feel immensely guilty.  Moreover, he has to stop the healing of Layla, someone who might be more deserving than he is. It’s the first time that he has to struggle with being the one alive—major foreshadowing, and groundwork that I appreciate more now that I’ve seen the whole series.

Other Thoughts

Loved the scene with the woman running and the Reaper chasing her, spliced with the old man with an oxygen tank being healed.

The politics of Supernatural have always been pretty clear, and it’s something that makes me laugh. I think this is the first time they overtly show that, what with the pastor’s wife killing a gay-rights activist and an abortion-rights activist.

Mythology

Reapers, thought they change a bit throughout the series.

Prepping for Nano…

I realize that I use ‘perhaps’ ‘feels like’ ‘seems to’ and ‘seemingly’…

…All the time. A disgusting amount.

Makes for larger word counts, though, no?

(No one ever said Nano was about quality…)

National Novel Writing Month, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo

Sons of Anarchy, S05 E04 “Stolen Huffy”

(Um, spoilers. Duh.)

It’s kind of weird to be starting an SOA commentary on the episode following such a massive, show-altering event. Yes. I’m talking about the tragic, violent death of Opie Winston. RIP.

Now at episode four, we find that SAMCRO is grieving, Gemma is clueless about Opie’s fate, Tara is becoming increasingly bitter, and a prostitute on the run for being falsely accused of calling the cops on Nero’s escort operation.

At first watch, the episode was serviceable.  The ending montage of Opie’s funeral, especially with that song overlayed, was powerful and heartbreaking.

Looking back, though, the episode feels a little….off. All of the components were…fine. The prostitute-on-the-run storyline was ho-hum. Gemma’s line of, “What’s happening to us?” felt real and true for her character—she’s spinning out of control, and now the violence her generation perpetuated is taking a devastating toll on her son’s. I think Gemma thought that by now either SAMCRO would be kings of Charming, or at least have some sort of stability. Now they’re thick in the quicksand of machinations they might not be able to control. The song, Lonely Boy by Greg Holden, played over a haunting memorial for Opie.

But putting those elements together—adding in a dispute between Tara and Wendy, as well as Tara, Gemma and Carla—came off as clunky. As a fan, I would have liked a whole episode to process Opie’s death and see the effect on the club and Jax.

Oh, Tara…

This season I’m most concerned about Tara. I don’t want Tara to become a little Gemma-Frankenstein. She’s smarter than that, and she’s not Gemma. Tara is sad, bitter, angry and giving in to hysterics (like dealing with Wendy) that are similar to how worked up Gemma would get in previous seasons. In this season’s opening monologue, as Jax talks about what doesn’t kill us makes us angry but what holds us together is family and work, we see Tara sitting in a tub, smoking a joint, with a gun. At the end of the episode we see Tara, once again smoking a joint, turning off the baby monitor as Thomas starts to cry. We see her dissatisfaction with work. When Jax is contemplating anger, it’s obvious that we should look to Tara. I can understand why she latches on to the only model she has of a woman in the club life. Probably the most powerful woman ever in motorcycle club life. But I hope that she can find a way to transcend Gemma, and pray-to-the-Lord she doesn’t have an affair and tamper with Jax’s motorcycle. (Hah. Just kidding…right?!)

Conclusion

So far, this season is going well.  Stolen Huffy (did Jax and Opie steal a Huffy bike as kids?) felt like treading water, where I wish it had pushed the emotional arc of the season forward. Opie’s loss, as a character and the loss of Ryan Hurst, is immense. However,  you can’t fully judge an episode’s content without tying it to the subsequent ones, and you can’t judge a season without it one, being over, and two, in relation to the series arc as a whole. There are most likely reverberations we just haven’t seen yet.

Also, I want to note (as I’m sure I will throughout the season) that the cast is phenomenal. A special note to Ryan Hurst, who made Opie the character I always looked to as the canary in the coalmine, so to speak. He played Opie with an amazing half-concealed brokenness. Charlie Hunnam and Maggie Siff…I mean. The way Hunnam imbues Jax with barely-contained rage, it’s a breathtaking portrayal of a man on edge, a man desperately trying to be good, to be honorable, to do right. Siff’s fragile-but-steely Tara, always on the brink, always bringing herself back—sometimes barely—and maybe not even able to anymore—always commands my attention.

Retrospective: Supernatural, S01 E05, E07

E05: Bloody Mary

Sam and Dean fight a vengeful spirit that moves through mirrors to kill people who have secretly killed others.

E07: Hookman

Sam and Dean fight a ‘hookman’, an old-timey pastor’s angry spirit who kills the immoral using hooks and feeding off the anger of the righteous.

Thoughts

So, these are the standalone episodes. In Bloody Mary the spirit is creepy, and the method of traveling through mirrors is creative. I like Hookman as well, mostly because the cold open is so much like the urban legends that used to keep me awake at  night. The first urban legend I ever heard was a hook-man story.

Which brings me to some beta-thoughts about the first season as a whole.

Upon first watching Supernatural, I was compelled to keep watching because of its treatment of American mythos. I love stories that are rooted solidly in the awesome fucked-upness (believe me, this is a compliment) that can be American life. I started watching Supernatural while reading American Gods. I love Stephen King, who routinely delves into the dark side of American life. My favorite entertainment is rooted solidly in the American Gothic, the gritty realities of living life in this complicated place.

So even though some of these episodes aren’t the best in television, or even of this series, they are worth watching for the ways that they offer a new twist on some old goodies. Who hasn’t played Bloody Mary at a sleepover? Heard the hook-man stories on a camping trip? Who hasn’t wished that two cool dudes in a classic muscle car could roll up and save them from their worst nightmares?

Retrospective: Supernatural, S01 E03 “Dead in the Water”

Thoughts

Dead in the Water is one of the only Supernatural episodes that I can remember being truly cinematic. Of course, there are many episodes with a tight story, amazing acting, emotional resonance and slick editing. But this episode is like a movie you’d see in a theater. The story is completely contained in the series arc. It also features many familiar horror-genre devices: pasty kid with psychic powers and trauma; beautiful, vulnerable young woman; shady father figure(s). Most importantly a spectacularly sinister poltergeist.

The direction and acting help transcend the ordinary horror script into something much more macabre. First, the direction is top-notch. The story is tight. The shots are unique and heighten the creepy factor, most notably the scene where Andrea (Amy Acker) is in the tub. One shot that sticks out in my mind is the perspective of Andrea’s feet adjusting the faucet knobs. The knack for ordinariness (who doesn’t do that in the tub?!) brings a truly menacing element to what happens next.

The atmosphere and tone the director (Kim Manners) sets is grim and dank. There is hardly any sunlight, only a layer of gray clouds. Everything from the town’s buildings to the trees to the actor’s skin tone takes on a watery hue. A sense of dread and claustorphobia permeate the episode. Also, the trademark humor between Sam and Dean is mostly absent, replaced by an urgency to solve the mystery.

Amy Ackers is, as always, lovely. Andrea, her character, is the generic nice, sweet, single suburban mom. I’ve read other sites calling Andrea the proto-Lisa, and I’d have to agree. Lucas is played with an ordinariness that helps surpass the usual brooding-weird psychic kid cliché. Ackles and Padalecki further establish Dean and Sam. Dean puts on an empathetic child-psychologist role that he surprises himself by being good at. This episode demonstrates that both Dean and Sam care about the people they save, and their mission is more than just killing baddies.

Mythology

Vengeful spirit, trauma-induced child psychic abilities

Book Review: Firethorn by Sarah Micklem

Book: Firethorn by Sarah Micklem

Published: 2004

Genre: Fantasy (realistic)

Synopsis:

Luck is a low-born (Mud) orphan who served under the Dame (Blood, aristocratic) until the Dame’s death. In her grief she fled to the Kingswood, a forest where no one is allowed. She lives there for a year scrounging out a living from the earth. One night she eats the berries of the Firethorn tree, which give her fevered dreams, a new name and set her on a collision course with the fate of the Kingdom.

On UpsideDown Days she meets Sir Galan, a Blood-born warrior. They soon begin a tempestuous affair, and Firethorn decides to follow him as his mistress to war. She makes friends, enemies, and uses the herb craft that the Dame taught her to help those in need. Soon, though, both she and Sir Galan realize that there is no place for passion—or possibly love—between a Mud-born and one of the Blood.

Thoughts:

Firethorn kept me reading well past my bed time. The writing style is evocative and the descriptions lush, but not overwrought. The plot moves quickly, but once they reach Marchfield, the holding camp before they set off to war, the action turns to politics, intrigue, and an examination of gender roles in a society much like Medieval Europe.

That’s not to say there isn’t tension, but that the action is more constrained.  This allows the author to firmly establish the rules of this society and world, and like good fantasy authors, she never bends her rules for the plot. The characters are firmly of this society, even when they push against its boundaries.

Speaking of world-building and society, I want to praise Micklem for a job well done. Every character has a place, clearly defined, in this highly stratified society. It reminds me of feudal Europe, and as good as any historical fiction, Micklem illustrates just how constraining life was for everyone—male, female, highborn, low-born, no matter. You had a role, and you played it, or you were shamed, dishonored and cast aside.

The readers learn about the deities and religious system based on Firthorn’s use of a ‘Divining Compass’. The Compass is a circle of all the deity aspects on which one throws bones to divine the future. There are twelve deities with three aspects each, for example: Ardor is the deity and its three faces are Ardor Smith, Ardor Hearthkeeper and Ardor Wildfire. The system is just exotic enough, and just familiar enough, to be at once interesting and intuitive.

The pace did drag in the last third. I skipped some pages in the tournament and battle scenes as they dragged on for eight or ten plus pages.

The ending is left wide open with a cliff-hanger. I will definitely be searching for the follow-up, Wildfire, at my bookstore. The third in the series has yet to be published.

Final Word: The perfect book for a dreary autumn or winter weekend. Curl up with some mulled wine by a rainy window, and you’ll be set.

Supernatural, S08 E01, “We Need to Talk about Kevin”

For background on Season 7, click here.

Recap

The episode begins in the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine. A couple is camping when a bright light flashes in the sky. A few moments later there’s a rustle, the guy goes to check and lo and behold—Dean! Back in…well, lots of dirt, grime and blood.

Dean travels to Louisiana and revives a companion, Benny, from Purgatory by slicing open his arm and bleeding glowing-blood onto the bones. They hug, promise to keep in touch, are glad to be back from the big-P.

Sam, meanwhile, lives in Kermit, Texas (there is such a place in West Texas). He quietly leaves a woman and dog during the night and drives the Impala to Whitefish, Montana. It should be noted that one, the woman watches him leave while pretending she’s asleep, and two, someone is watching the house as Sam leaves. He’s greeted by a suspicious Dean who doused him with salt, borax and bleeds him.

As they talk it’s revealed that Dean’s been in Purgatory, the fate of Cas is maybe-dead, Sam has given up saving-people/hunting-things and, actually, never looked for Dean after Dean disappeared by killing Dick Roman. The tension between the two of them is palpable. Later that night Dean finds messages on old phones from Kevin the Prophet, and confronts Sam on ditching Kevin in his time of need.

They start an investigation to find Kevin, subsequently find him in Iowa, where Kevin reveals that he has a tablet from God that reveals how to close the gates of hell, forever. Dean is excited about this, Sam seems a bit reserved—mostly, it seems, because he’s concerned about how this will affect Kevin. Dean pretty much says that there’s no use in crying over spilled milk—Kevin, like the two of them, is in this until it’s over.

Two demons show up and are subsequently vanquished. Interesting to note: Sam missed a swing at the demon, while Dean kicked major ass and Kevin also had some survival techniques (holy water in a squirt bottle). Obvious contrast between how Kevin and Dean’s life has been about survival, while Sam’s has not.

Crowley appears and makes moves to try to take Kevin, and Kevin outwits him (again). The price he pays is that his girlfriend, Channing (who has a demon riding her), gets her neck snapped.

The show ends with Dean making a phone call to Benny, the vampire/friend from big-P.

Thoughts…

…On Dean

Damn, I felt bad for the guy. Coming back from Purgatory and finding out that Sam didn’t look for him or try to find a way to release him. The hurt and surprise are easy to read on his face. Also doubly awful because of all that Dean has put on the line for Sam, multiple times.

Dean has obviously come back a warrior with some PTSD issues. His eyes have a tight look, his manner is wary and shaky. He doesn’t sleep. He’s a bit confused by the cush modern life as opposed to the primal survival of Purgatory. Add to this the layer of brooding brother tension—story and character goldmine!

Still, Dean the Hunter is sharper than ever. He whips major ass on those two demons, more competently in hand-to-hand than ever.

…On Sam

Oh, Sam. As much as the idealist in me prefers Dean’s character, I have to admit, as far as complex, complicated characters go—Sam takes the cake. The consistent cake, thank you writers.

Sam never wanted the hunting life. He quit it as soon as he could, leaving for Stanford, pre-law and a beautiful blond bombshell of a girlfriend. He began hunting as a quest to find his father and vengeance for Jess. Even though at times he could be relentless, obsessed, and arrogant, it was never the ideal of saving-people/hunting-things that motivated him. It was personal. Helping people was a happy byproduct of the end goal.

When he confronts Dean in the motel—the world did spin without us, thank you, it wasn’t all up to us to save everything anymore—I could have given a standing ovation. THANK YOU. The show needs at least one of the characters to have that epiphany, and because Dean pursues hunting out of idealism (it is his life, hunting is who Dean is) he doesn’t understand that it isn’t the same for Sam. Maybe he doesn’t want to understand that. Dean has always preferred the black and white (he loves the ‘purity’ of Purgatory, right?), and Sam has always existed in the gray. Not to say that Dean never grew to accept the gray, he did, but he always seemed to prefer the clear kill.

As for not searching for Dean—well, we don’t know that for sure, yet. But that does seem to me a bit weird, buut definitely explainable. Sam had no one. Everyone in his life (brother, mother, father, fiancée, Bobby, Cas, Jo, Ellen, etc.) was dead or gone. I’d need some peace, too.

Random Thoughts

The figure watching Sam and Amelia’s house had a popped collar. Crowley or Dean?

That femur bone/obsidian blade weapon is awesome.

How did Dean get in touch with Sam?  Or does Sam just take off to Montana?  This whole scene is shrouded either in mystery or faulty execution. Time will tell.

I can’t wait to see how Dean survived Purgatory. What did he eat? How did he sleep? Were there other humans?

So far, I do not like Amelia. Bit aggressive about the dog, no? “Maybe if you were such an upstanding guy you wouldn’t have hit him in the first place.” Um…okay.

Closing

Dean, as played by Jensen Ackles, is always a pleasure to watch. I like the turn to grizzled warrior, and it makes me believe that, in the end, Dean is either going to become a living legend or become a legend by dying. Sam has a need to connect, to have a family and a life, and I think he’ll get that. Dean seems to be getting further from being able to relate with people other than hunters and monsters, and further from a traditional happy ending. Re-watching the first season reminds me that, in the beginning (before Jo, Ellen, Lisa, etc.) Dean promoted the anti-social hunter life. He repeatedly told Sam they were on their own, no one could understand. Of course, they find people to bond with, become family with, but those people are all dead now. What does that do to a man?

The flashbacks are an interesting contrast. One, desaturated and grim, the other bright and dreamy. I’m not sure how well they played embedded in the storyline, especially the Amelia-flashbacks. They seemed a bit shoehorned in.

Honestly, I can’t wait for next week, and I’m excited about this season. Even though they’re beginning with a familiar trope for Supernatural (the disappearing for a year and coming back)—this time it’s different. Sam and Dean have each fundamentally changed. Sam actually moved on. Dean spent a year in Purgatory, and kind of liked it.

It’s going to be exciting to watch.