Simon Says...
Oct. 26th, 2006 09:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xaaraThat was pretty bad.
Like awful pretty bad. Like Scifi movie with Bon Jovi pretty bad. (True story--remind me to tell you about that sometime.)
The pacing was off, the background details were off, the filters were allOMG FEAR ME kinda intense, and wtf roadhouse subplot? They have a home base now? They have a Dr. Badass now? (Though Dr. Badass, in his defense, is actually kinda cool. Oh, Ash. I love you.)
But in the spirit of keeping a positive spin on things, I will now make lists. Lists are the cure for what ails you. Vaguely incoherent comments to follow.
Things I Liked:
The rednecks in the roadhouse. I love this whole idea of a network of underground, rough-around-the-edges hunters who are really, you know, hunters. When they're not shooting demons, they're skinning deer. I like the grittiness of that.
Dean being afraid of Ellen.
Star Wars references! Everywhere! It's like...when fandoms collide!
Sam pulling the fire alarm. Sam pulls fire alarms. It's his thing, his default reaction to bad situations. Thing going sideways? Pull the fire alarm.
Dean giving away the Impala. Okay, honey, she might've forgiven you for the whole MONSTER TRUCK OF DEATH incident, and anyway you weren't fully conscious and can't be held responsible for that, but this time? You gave her away. You're so sleeping on the couch tonight.
Jo hustling at the deer-shooting game. I like her despite myself, probably in large part because those long OMG DEAN DOESN'T LIKE ME closeups are kind of insulting to her character. She's a girl, and let's face it here, he's not ugly, but that doesn't mean the moon eyes are necessary all the time. Okay, writers?
Oh man, bitchface is back. To stay.
Things I Would Have Liked Had They Been Executed Better:
Dean's inspection of the van. He loves disco. He's totally smoked up at least a few times. He had a shag carpet this one time when he was fifteen and thought it was the coolest fucking thing ever, yo.
Sam's visions. I want to know what they do to him, how they make him feel. I want a frustrated scream. I liked the fact that someone, finally, recognized that dude, they suck.
The last scene. Ellen's good at what she does, no doubt about it, and she and Sam have some stuff to work out together, once they get a handle on what's going on.
Andy. I was sort of ambivalent about Andy, but he could have been interesting and was just starting to be when the episode ended. On a random note, has anyone noticed that all of the male characters that they bring on for one episode sort of look alike?
Things That Would Have Made the Episode Far Superior:
Giving Andy and his brother (whose name I have forgotten--started with an A as well? maybe?) a more interesting subplot. You don't always have to follow the intro-Winchesters-interview-red herring-discussion-clue-real thing-showdown-recap-ride into the sunset format. This episode would have worked more effectively had it devoted more time to creating a storyline that made me care about the twins instead of feeling vaguely condescending towards Andy and wanting someone to just smush his brother with a large anvil.
Better camerawork. And okay, I get that this is mostly a me-thing, and my roommate always looks at me funny when I squee over camera angles and lens flare and framing, but camerawork can add so much to an episode. The headlight-to-coffee transition was interesting because of the light-to-headlight transition in Nightmare, which was of course the other Sammy-has-visions episode. (Who hasn't yet guessed that I am an English major who spends all of her time close reading?)
Random Other Stuff:
For a minute, when Sam was following Doc and Dean was following the van, I was absolutely sure the Impala was going to be run over by the bus. This is PTSD, people, PTSD.
Like awful pretty bad. Like Scifi movie with Bon Jovi pretty bad. (True story--remind me to tell you about that sometime.)
The pacing was off, the background details were off, the filters were all
But in the spirit of keeping a positive spin on things, I will now make lists. Lists are the cure for what ails you. Vaguely incoherent comments to follow.
Things I Liked:
The rednecks in the roadhouse. I love this whole idea of a network of underground, rough-around-the-edges hunters who are really, you know, hunters. When they're not shooting demons, they're skinning deer. I like the grittiness of that.
Dean being afraid of Ellen.
Star Wars references! Everywhere! It's like...when fandoms collide!
Sam pulling the fire alarm. Sam pulls fire alarms. It's his thing, his default reaction to bad situations. Thing going sideways? Pull the fire alarm.
Dean giving away the Impala. Okay, honey, she might've forgiven you for the whole MONSTER TRUCK OF DEATH incident, and anyway you weren't fully conscious and can't be held responsible for that, but this time? You gave her away. You're so sleeping on the couch tonight.
Jo hustling at the deer-shooting game. I like her despite myself, probably in large part because those long OMG DEAN DOESN'T LIKE ME closeups are kind of insulting to her character. She's a girl, and let's face it here, he's not ugly, but that doesn't mean the moon eyes are necessary all the time. Okay, writers?
Oh man, bitchface is back. To stay.
Things I Would Have Liked Had They Been Executed Better:
Dean's inspection of the van. He loves disco. He's totally smoked up at least a few times. He had a shag carpet this one time when he was fifteen and thought it was the coolest fucking thing ever, yo.
Sam's visions. I want to know what they do to him, how they make him feel. I want a frustrated scream. I liked the fact that someone, finally, recognized that dude, they suck.
The last scene. Ellen's good at what she does, no doubt about it, and she and Sam have some stuff to work out together, once they get a handle on what's going on.
Andy. I was sort of ambivalent about Andy, but he could have been interesting and was just starting to be when the episode ended. On a random note, has anyone noticed that all of the male characters that they bring on for one episode sort of look alike?
Things That Would Have Made the Episode Far Superior:
Giving Andy and his brother (whose name I have forgotten--started with an A as well? maybe?) a more interesting subplot. You don't always have to follow the intro-Winchesters-interview-red herring-discussion-clue-real thing-showdown-recap-ride into the sunset format. This episode would have worked more effectively had it devoted more time to creating a storyline that made me care about the twins instead of feeling vaguely condescending towards Andy and wanting someone to just smush his brother with a large anvil.
Better camerawork. And okay, I get that this is mostly a me-thing, and my roommate always looks at me funny when I squee over camera angles and lens flare and framing, but camerawork can add so much to an episode. The headlight-to-coffee transition was interesting because of the light-to-headlight transition in Nightmare, which was of course the other Sammy-has-visions episode. (Who hasn't yet guessed that I am an English major who spends all of her time close reading?)
Random Other Stuff:
For a minute, when Sam was following Doc and Dean was following the van, I was absolutely sure the Impala was going to be run over by the bus. This is PTSD, people, PTSD.