I'll look it up on the intranet
Sep. 27th, 2010 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee34SPOILER ALERTS FOR EXILE ON MAIN STREET
I have mixed feelings about this episode. Lots of woooooooohoooooo and yay mixed in with some really? and huh?
I think a lot of my ambivalence can be explained by the very nature of the season opener. SPN is changing the trajectory of the show, and this requires a fair amount of Giles info-dumping in the library. Exposition is not the pinnacle of storytelling. In addition, the deux ex machina is always a bit clunky and awkward and Colonel Caldwell's arrival without any real explanation can't be anything but. I also think that the plot of this first episode was a bit disorganized and confused. Watching, I felt like I'd been dealt a dose of the djinn's poison and, frankly, maybe that was the point. I get the feeling they wanna ramp up the mystery but chose poor storytelling devices to do so.
On the whole, I liked this episode. I am so stoked about the way that Lisa and Dean's relationship was portrayed. He loves her. He says again and again that he went to her because Sam asked him to and he stayed because Sam asked him to, but not even Sam's dying wish could keep Dean there with them if he was truly too fucked up to function as a member of a household, if he felt nothing for her, if he didn't see some value in the connections he was forging with them. He'd pull a Mystery Spot and he'd go off and hunt himself to death. Like Winchesters do. He only decides to leave when he feels like his presence is putting them in danger; I love that he recognizes that leaving is another form of cowardice that ultimately leaves them more exposed than before. I was proud of Dean (and even more proud of the writers) for not taking the easy way out, for not just running away.
One of the best moments of this whole episode is Dean and Lisa on the stairs. Dean is so certain that once again he's failed. That he's subpar. That whatever he's tried to do hasn't been enough. That he can't be loved. And Lisa takes that and smacks it down. I don't get the impression that Dean gets a Get Outta Jail Free Card with her, but I do believe that she understands that living the life Dean's lived fucks your shit up. And whatever the hell else Dean wants to believe about himself, he's a good dad. *heart in throat*
I love that the world of SPN won't let any Winchester have anything free and clear. Maybe Dean can't tell Sid a damn thing, but the man's still his friend, and now he's dead.
I love that the djinn brought the show back full circle, back to its roots, back to what SPN has been about from the very beginning--family and vengeance, parents trying to keep their children safe and children seeking to avenge the loss of those parents. One of the things I have always loved about SPN is that it makes me believe that the YED mourns the loss of Meg every bit as much as John would Sam or Dean, that the ghouls miss their daddy as much as the boys miss theirs.
I love that Sam's been back this whole time and kept it secret. Love that Bobby knew and kept it secret. Totally buy that.
Mitch Pileggi gets a thousand gold stars of awesome in my book, so I love that he's back even though there's no good reason for him to be. That being said, I think he's not a good guy. I think he's gonna turn out to be the villain. And I don't buy the whole ring of newly discovered cousins; if they'd gone into hiding and changed their last names, sure. But they're CAMPBELLS for chrissakes. (Although, the whole hunter legacy into the wayback is hella cool. Let's get on that, writers.)
Speaking of which, I'm convinced that Dean wasn't really injected with djinn poison to begin with. I think he really saw the YED. I think he's back and he's got a plan and it's all about fucking up Dean's world. AND THAT MAKES ME SOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CALDWELL/YED CAGEMATCH FTW!!
Random thing I loved: the beginning montage of Dean's new life interspersed with the black and white shots of his life with Sam. SO PRETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTY!
Finally, when Sam refused to take the Impala, that hurt me. Like, it twisted my insides. But unlike some other reviewers I've read, I don't think it was out of character. I think Sam was truly astonished when Dean didn't decide to call it quits with Lisa and go back on the road. Oh sure, he anticipated that Dean would mourn and he would lament the necessity of leaving her behind, but it never ever occured to Sam that Dean would rewrite the script. I think his refusal to take the Impala is less the rejection that it can be read as and more of Sam trying to tempt Dean. I'm not saying this the right way. If he takes the Impala, that's one more link severed with the world Sam's living in, and that's the last thing Sam wants.
Sam's whole, "You went over there and saved those people and that was *weird*," speech was kinda random. And weird. I think it got lost in the info dump and means one of several things: I came back wrong! Or Grampy and Cousins touch me in the dirty bad wrong place and they eat djinn for breakfast! Or you're still the awesomest, Dean, even if I say it like a dumbass. I dunno. I think Sam's unwillingness to talk about hell is also odd. (I didn't think the cage was hell; I thought it was underneath and different. In fact, I kinda of imagined it as a sensory deprivation box.)
So, what y'all wanna bet that Sam is Sam and Grandpa is Michael and Lucy's still stuck in the cage?
That got *long*.
Whew.
I have mixed feelings about this episode. Lots of woooooooohoooooo and yay mixed in with some really? and huh?
I think a lot of my ambivalence can be explained by the very nature of the season opener. SPN is changing the trajectory of the show, and this requires a fair amount of Giles info-dumping in the library. Exposition is not the pinnacle of storytelling. In addition, the deux ex machina is always a bit clunky and awkward and Colonel Caldwell's arrival without any real explanation can't be anything but. I also think that the plot of this first episode was a bit disorganized and confused. Watching, I felt like I'd been dealt a dose of the djinn's poison and, frankly, maybe that was the point. I get the feeling they wanna ramp up the mystery but chose poor storytelling devices to do so.
On the whole, I liked this episode. I am so stoked about the way that Lisa and Dean's relationship was portrayed. He loves her. He says again and again that he went to her because Sam asked him to and he stayed because Sam asked him to, but not even Sam's dying wish could keep Dean there with them if he was truly too fucked up to function as a member of a household, if he felt nothing for her, if he didn't see some value in the connections he was forging with them. He'd pull a Mystery Spot and he'd go off and hunt himself to death. Like Winchesters do. He only decides to leave when he feels like his presence is putting them in danger; I love that he recognizes that leaving is another form of cowardice that ultimately leaves them more exposed than before. I was proud of Dean (and even more proud of the writers) for not taking the easy way out, for not just running away.
One of the best moments of this whole episode is Dean and Lisa on the stairs. Dean is so certain that once again he's failed. That he's subpar. That whatever he's tried to do hasn't been enough. That he can't be loved. And Lisa takes that and smacks it down. I don't get the impression that Dean gets a Get Outta Jail Free Card with her, but I do believe that she understands that living the life Dean's lived fucks your shit up. And whatever the hell else Dean wants to believe about himself, he's a good dad. *heart in throat*
I love that the world of SPN won't let any Winchester have anything free and clear. Maybe Dean can't tell Sid a damn thing, but the man's still his friend, and now he's dead.
I love that the djinn brought the show back full circle, back to its roots, back to what SPN has been about from the very beginning--family and vengeance, parents trying to keep their children safe and children seeking to avenge the loss of those parents. One of the things I have always loved about SPN is that it makes me believe that the YED mourns the loss of Meg every bit as much as John would Sam or Dean, that the ghouls miss their daddy as much as the boys miss theirs.
I love that Sam's been back this whole time and kept it secret. Love that Bobby knew and kept it secret. Totally buy that.
Mitch Pileggi gets a thousand gold stars of awesome in my book, so I love that he's back even though there's no good reason for him to be. That being said, I think he's not a good guy. I think he's gonna turn out to be the villain. And I don't buy the whole ring of newly discovered cousins; if they'd gone into hiding and changed their last names, sure. But they're CAMPBELLS for chrissakes. (Although, the whole hunter legacy into the wayback is hella cool. Let's get on that, writers.)
Speaking of which, I'm convinced that Dean wasn't really injected with djinn poison to begin with. I think he really saw the YED. I think he's back and he's got a plan and it's all about fucking up Dean's world. AND THAT MAKES ME SOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CALDWELL/YED CAGEMATCH FTW!!
Random thing I loved: the beginning montage of Dean's new life interspersed with the black and white shots of his life with Sam. SO PRETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTY!
Finally, when Sam refused to take the Impala, that hurt me. Like, it twisted my insides. But unlike some other reviewers I've read, I don't think it was out of character. I think Sam was truly astonished when Dean didn't decide to call it quits with Lisa and go back on the road. Oh sure, he anticipated that Dean would mourn and he would lament the necessity of leaving her behind, but it never ever occured to Sam that Dean would rewrite the script. I think his refusal to take the Impala is less the rejection that it can be read as and more of Sam trying to tempt Dean. I'm not saying this the right way. If he takes the Impala, that's one more link severed with the world Sam's living in, and that's the last thing Sam wants.
Sam's whole, "You went over there and saved those people and that was *weird*," speech was kinda random. And weird. I think it got lost in the info dump and means one of several things: I came back wrong! Or Grampy and Cousins touch me in the dirty bad wrong place and they eat djinn for breakfast! Or you're still the awesomest, Dean, even if I say it like a dumbass. I dunno. I think Sam's unwillingness to talk about hell is also odd. (I didn't think the cage was hell; I thought it was underneath and different. In fact, I kinda of imagined it as a sensory deprivation box.)
So, what y'all wanna bet that Sam is Sam and Grandpa is Michael and Lucy's still stuck in the cage?
That got *long*.
Whew.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 03:01 pm (UTC)I'm on the fence about Sid, I didn't really get attached to him, not enought time I guess, but it's still pretty sad that Dean just lost his sort of best friend.
Cant wait for the next episode.
eta:So, what y'all wanna bet that Sam is Sam and Grandpa is Michael and Lucy's still stuck in the cage?
Ooh! Interesting theory! I like it. Grandpappy Campbell has something going on, I know that much.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 07:29 pm (UTC)But I still managed to like a lot of things about it even so.
What I'm hoping is now that the table's set for dinner, we can start to leisurely eat our meal. If that makes any sense as a metaphor.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-28 09:24 pm (UTC)I totally buy Bobby and Sam not telling Dean. he was OUT. Why bring him back in, if he managed to get the hell out of the life? throughout the entire series, that "I wish our lives didn't have to be this but they are" thread has been evident, and now that Dean is living that wish? What hunter in his right mind is going to tug him free of that. So yeah. Bobby not telling Dean about Sam Totally in character.
I think Sam's speech at the end is reminiscent of Dean's speech when he asked Sam back last Season. They keep each other human. Sam's been hunting without Dean for a year. He's different now, and it's because Dean WASN'T with him, and now Sam sees the difference, because he's confronted with it in the choice Dean makes to rush to his neighbors. So...Sam kinda wants that back now? If that makes sense.
But yeah. All you said and more.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-29 12:18 am (UTC)*frantically nodding*
I like what you have to say about Sam's motivations in that speech. That makes sense to me.
I can't wait to see where the show goes next.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-30 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-30 01:51 am (UTC)You should write it anyway.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-30 02:16 am (UTC)