brightly_lit | 9.06, or, why are all the ladies suddenly flocking to the Gas 'n' Sip?

Despite some very annoying technical difficulties watching it on the CW site (in which it suddenly stopped playing and started the previous week's episode--not once, not twice, but FOUR TIMES--note that you have to sit through every commercial break again if you try to fast forward ... CW!! *shakes fist*)(oh, and also including old-school webcam-quality video during the fight scene, so I'm still not 100% sure what happened--did Dean slide Cas the angel blade he used to kill Ephraim?), last night's episode sat very well ... better than any other episode this season and most of S8, which often seems to have a caustic quality. I could write an entire meta on the whys, but so often these days, it has a bit of a sweeps-week feel: color! action! violence! sex! blood! *You're not bored are you? YOU LIKE THIS DON'T YOU?? IT'S GOOD, RIGHT???* A far cry from the SPN of yore, where the most emotionally intense scenes happened during the quietest, most private conversations, in the car late at night in the rain, or in a remote hotel room.

This was kind of a quiet episode, mostly about Cas trying to build a new life, Dean's worry and guilt, and their relationship. (Plus, BWAHA, the best Destiel "Some time later ..." moment yet, as Dean takes Cas away in his car after Nora's aborted date, presumably no later than 10 p.m., returning him to work in broad daylight the next morning ... awww. Or should I say, boom chicka bow bow.) New writer (kudos to you, dude! good start!) who brought a different feel, and just seemed to enjoy delving into the characters and their relationships. It was sweet.

It would be easier to talk about the things I didn't like than the things I did, since I liked most everything. Though I thrill to hear the "Greatest American Hero" theme song (sometimes I think the reason I love SPN so much is because I and so many of its creators seem to have cut our teeth on the same trashy t.v.: first Dukes of Hazzard, then The Incredible Hulk, then, oh so briefly, Greatest American Hero, then the glorious Knight Rider. Yes, it was a grand time for American television, and probably influenced the person I became to a troubling degree ...), having Cas sing it to a baby was a bit too precious. I felt like the producers were cramming it down my Cas-lovin' throat: "The fans'll eat this shit up!" But, cute baby. I liked that they managed to get a reaction shot to Ephraim from both Cas and baby.

My greatest disappointment with the episode was that it was written straight to Misha's greatest strengths as an actor, and he was kind of off. S.E. Hinton was there for the shoot and says Jensen was merciless in ruining every take by making Misha laugh, at which point it's impossible to really get into the feeling of the scene as an actor, so that's probably why he was off. It's a shame; it could have been extraordinarily beautiful otherwise.

In general, I just really loved it. Great script that followed up on stuff in the relationships between these people. I've seen many people complaining about Dean being a dick to Cas and, yeah, nice, kick him out and he manages to get a job with no experience or qualifications and you make fun of him for it, but beyond that, I felt like Dean was much nicer to him than he's been in just about forever, and that was lovely. Their relationship has never made any sense, but at least we actually got to see the affection that Dean claims is there when he's not verbally abusing Cas. I think he just felt guilty for kicking him out and making him have to resort to such a job, but Cas doesn't have the same standards as Dean and seemed to take pride and some joy in his work. Plus, he was GOOD at it! Which must be a new and rewarding experience for Cas, one of the worst angels of all time, according to Naomi. And POOR Cas, whose pain Ephraim could hear for miles. :-(

As for Crowley jamming on the Kevin blood there at the end, I've seen some interesting theories floated around, but my sense from hints laid in the script ("to the last drop"), and my hope, is that he's simply jonesing for some more of that feeling of being human.

I have complained many times about how much I wished they would make the angels act more like angels--compassionate and loving and well-meaning--and find conflict there, which is EXACTLY what they did with Ephraim, which made me very happy indeed!

A few amusing items of note:

- pink, really? My guess is they went with pink because they figured red blood + white bone = pink, but I'm betting the reality would be red-brown, and if bone color affected it at all, it would probably make the reddish brown chalky and muddled. But actually, that would have been really fucking gross, so okay, we'll go with pink!

- Cas picks one of her OWN FLOWERS to give her? Probably best he never got to. Very conveniently placed gardening shears, too.

- he "overreacted" about the baby? By ... smashing up the place and bleeding on the window? He and Dean must have done a hell of a cleaning job before she got home ...

- that convenience store was EXTRAORDINARILY well-stocked with spices of every kind, both high-quality small bottles AND bulk bottles! Is that paprika I see? Hm ...

- that high-school girl giving Dean attitude was AWESOME!

- Misha wore the hell out of that blue vest! He could make Alfie's outfit look like haute couture. Now THAT'S a model!

casemployee

-Edited to delete something I completely misunderstood ...

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9.06, or, why are all the ladies suddenly flocking to the Gas 'n' Sip?

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