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.

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.

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.