Today we finish off our Supernatural writer polls with the Big Kahuna himself, Jeremy Carver. Despite one's feelings about him as a show runner, there is no doubt that he wrote some of Supernatural's best episodes. Today is probably going to be tough for everyone and yes, you only get 1 vote. Sorry but my inner Alastair is coming through. So don't forget to espouse your episode love in the comments, even the ones you could not vote for.
In yesterday's polls, we saw a last minute surge in voting and it changed some of the results. For John Shiban, the winner was Croatoan with 31% of the votes with Tall Tales (28%), Skin (13%), and Folsom Prison Blues (11%) right behind. In the Adam Glass poll, the winner was still As Time Goes By (40%) by a wild majority. However, Party On, Garth surged to take third place with (10%) after Mommy Dearest in second with 14% of the vote. Today's vote should be interesting because I have no idea which ones will be in the top three. Don'y forget to keep nominating; we have very few nominations for Hello Cruel World, The Girl Next Door, Defending Your Life, Shut Up, Dr. Phil, Slash Fiction, The Mentalists, or Season 7 Time for a Wedding. Very few quotes if any will make it in for these unless people get their nominations in. Happy nominating and voting!
Poll Notes:
Jeremy Carver wrote Sin City with Bob Singer. All other episodes were solo credit.
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For Jeremy Carver, I think it will be easier just to rank the episodes and explain through the rankings, so…
ReplyDelete14. Family Remains - This is one of the worst episodes in all of SPN for me. I call it The Benders, Part 2 but it doesn't come close to The Benders in quality for me, and I didn't even care for that episode.
13. We Need to Talk about Kevin - Sam didn't look. Enough said.
12. The Rapture - Besides not making sense because Jimmy's body would most definitely be dead after the beating it took in Lazarus Rising alone, this episode bored me. By this time I no longer cared about angels.
11. Long-Distance Call - Another episode that would have been mediocre if it weren't one of the last 4 episodes after the writers' strike. We didn't have time for this nonsense. We needed to figure out where Lilith was and have Sam try to find a way to keep Dean out of hell. Plus John's voice…enough said.
10. Sacrifice - The single most boring finale in Supernatural history. With the exception of Abaddon's 3 minutes and angels falling, nothing happened….well except it negating the entire season. A talkfest that turned into a snoozefest.
9. Free to be You and Me - Two separate cases, neither of which was interesting enough to be a full episode. This one only ranks this high because it reunited the brothers again and season 8 sucked.
8. Point of No Return - Yeah I know it was the 100th episode and everyone loved it but I was tired of hearing Dean whine by this time and I always hated Adam, so the biggest plus was killing Zachariah.
7. In the Beginning - I'm not the biggest fan of time travel, but this might be the best of the bunch. I liked young John and was shocked when they completely retconned Mary. Plus YED is always a good thing.
6. Sin City - A completely overlooked episode in a great season. I thought Casey was great. If Ruby had been more like her, I wouldn't have disliked Tree Ninja Girl from the second she popped out of the tree. I felt for Ritchie and the brothers worked very well together here. A great episode all around.
5. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid aka the introduction to Sheriff Mills. This was a tight emotional story that never pushed into gratuitous emoangsting. I appreciate that a lot. We got more info on Bobby and hey, Zombie Taxpayer made me bust a gut. Great humor and pathos in this one.
4. Death Takes a Holiday - This one never gets the love it deserves. Not only did it bring back Tessa, Pamela, and Alastair, but it also had one of the most intriguing plots and a kid that didn't immediately make we want to smack him.
2/3. Mystery Spot and Changing Channels - I waver between these two all the time. Both are hilarious, focus on the Trickster, and have a dramatic twist right in the middle. Both of these are sheer awesome and are 2 of the episodes I have watched probably 200 times, well over 100 for sure. They both are on my Best of list.
1. A Very Supernatural Christmas - It is so hard to believe that the man who wrote We Need to Talk about Kevin also wrote this one. This was one phenomenal brother moment after another along with great humor and awesome guest villains. Of all 172 episodes of Supernatural, this is the one I use for newbies when they aren't sure if they want to try SPN or not. It is the perfect started episode because it combines all the elements of what makes SPN, SPN in one 42 minute love letter to the characters.
Time After Time quotes: Great guest stars and not bad for time travel. Plus the first quote is one I now actually use in everyday life, so bonus points there.
ReplyDelete15. Sam: "The thing that's been mummifying people took him in a frigging ball of light and disappeared." Jody: "You guys get that a lot?" Sam: "Yeah more than most people."
14. Ezra: "That is a 1,000 year old olive carved by vestal virgins and dipped in the blood of…you don't want to know. Pulling this together wasn't easy. You and Ness both owe me, smoothie." Dean: "You can have whatever you want soon as we gank this thing." Ezra: "Yeah, yeah take your twig wise guy."
13. Dean: "Alright well how the hell am I gonna ride him back to 2012?" Ezra: "Well you could let him grab you, if you don't mind him using you for gasoline."
12. Chronos: "Lila, I'm sorry but you just…everything I said to you was true…" Dean: "Oh he might have left out a few details. He tell you he's a monster who jumps through time?"
11. Dean: "Awesome." Ness: "How does that fill you with awe?"
10. Dean: "Don't give me that dirty diaper look. I ain't calling you."
9. Dean: "Well now how's it work?" Ezra: "You stick this end in his heart. Miss, he has you for supper. Makes sense?"
8. Sam: "That was Sheriff Mills. She caught us one." Dean: "Oh I feel bad. We didn't get her anything."
7. Jody: "Yeah I think Bobby may have had a slight hoarding issue. I could barely get the door open on that storage locker and…um, I'm pretty sure something's alive in at least 3 of those boxes."
6. Dean: "How does paper beat a rock? It's stupid."
5. Sam: "Are those local feeds?" Dean: "Yeah." Sam: "How did you do that so fast?" Dean: "A little tutorial from Frank. Don't worry, we'll pretend this never happened."
4. Sam: "I can't believe I'm about to say this but I hope you're watching cartoon smut 'cause reading Dick Roman cr** over and over again is just self-punishment." Dean: "It's called anime and it's an art form."
3. Jody: "You are toast. I'll keep pushing. You go get some shut eye." Sam: "Uh, that's okay. I can…uh…" Jody: "Do I have to use my mom voice?"
2. Dean: "Alright let's do this. Move fast." Sam: "Wait, wait, wait. What's the plan exactly." Dean: "Don't die."
1. Dean: "Sweet merciful awesome."
Slice Girls quotes: This episode get bonus points simply for not dragging us back into an Amy situation. What a relief. Plus Sam gets some awesome lines in this one.
ReplyDelete15. Sam: "Look man, she was not yours…not really." Dean: "Actually she…uh, she was really. She just also happened to be a crazy, man hating monster, but…uh, hey."
14. Sam: "Is that Bobby's? I didn't know you kept that." Dean: "Yeah mine sprung a leak." Sam: "You know most people would just carry a…a photo or something for a memento." Dean: "Shut up man, I'm…I'm…I'm honoring the guy alright? This is…uh, grief therapy - kind of like you and your wild goose chase."
13. Dean: "I hate when this happens."
12. Morrison: "Fascinating, truly and actually rather accomplished draftsmanship." Dean: "Yeah if you can get past the fact that it was carved into a guy's body."
11. Dean: "There was no playpens, no blankets, no rubber ducks." Sam: "Right, like you would have been focused on that kind of thing." Dean: "Hey dude, that's the first thing you notice…red flags. Then all of a sudden boom…baby."
10. Dean: "That's a great idea…actually, that's a brilliant idea. Here's my counter. You do that; I'll go undercover, go mingle amongst the locals, and see…uh, what kind of clues bubble to the surface." Sam: "You're going to a bar." Dean: "Wow, if you want to oversimplify it."
9. Sam: "Mmm hey, where are you? It's a flask not the Holy Grail." Dean: "Hey man, I'm a people person alright? I'm engaging in some social skills."
8. Morrison: "So you said…with this symbol carved in their chests." Sam: "And their hands and feet cut off." Morrison: "Now that is interesting." Dean: "Got our attention."
7. Sam: "Neighbor, said the vic's wife caught him cheating." Dean: "Yeah but we're not thinking it's the wife." Sam: "Not unless she benches 350 and did the other guys as a warm-up."
6. Sam: "You know George Foreman named all his sons George." Dean: "Are you deliberately messing with me? Dude I know weird okay? There is no non-weird explanation for this. This morning Emma was a baby. By sunset she's Hannah Montana…early years."
5. Sam: "Look…Dean the thing is tonight….it almost got you killed. Now I don't care how you deal. I really, really don't, but just don't…don't get killed." Dean: "I'll do what I can." Sam: "Well what's that supposed to mean?"
4. Sam: "Now you know so much about child development?" Dean: "I know enough to know that they don't say, 'Hey mom who's that guy?"
3. Dean: "No I'm telling you I have been eating at the buffet of strange all afternoon."
2. Dean: "Well nice décor, very early slaughterhouse."
1. Dean: "I'll admit it could be in the general vicinity of the ballpark of our kind of thing." Sam: "Yeah…uh, 'didn't match anything human' usually seals the deal for me."
Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie quotes: The brothers laugh....together. It's a miracle of joy and happiness. Not to mention they have the best monster names of all time in this episode. My favorite: Seabiscuit the Impaler. Besides, who doesn't find Chuck E. Cheese creepy?
ReplyDelete15. Sam: "I mean aren't…giant octopi rare around here?" Doctor: "Yet here we are." Dean: "Alright so what happens? Guy comes home, cracks a beer, and gets…suckered to death?"
14. Sam: "Kid therapy. Um, you draw your worst nightmare…poof, Plucky fixes it. Um, they hang them up on this big wall." Dean: "Well can't argue with this. Leprechauns are deadly."
13. Dean: "Great, so whatever we're looking for can literally fire off childhood fears at will. Wow, watch out for evil lunch ladies."
12. Dean: "Shark Week man. How do you not watch that? Whole week of sharks."
11. Dean: "Wait, wait, wait…this isn't about your…uh, your clown thing is it?" Sam: "What? No!" Dean: "Sammy?" Sam: "No." Dean: "Yeah what in the world did they do to you? Alright you know what, never mind. Just know that 99.99% of all clowns can't hurt you okay? And if it bleeds you can kill it." Sam: "If it bleeds, you can kill it."
10. Dean: "Well what's my cover." Sam: "I don't know. Just hang back. Act normal." Dean: "Yeah, yeah guy in his thirties hanging out at Plucky's alone…that's normal. That's not pervy at all."
9. Dean: "I think b** mom plus…uh, sad kid plus placemat with something nuts written on it….equals wacky corpse."
8. Dean: "Oh those are not the fun kind of hickeys."
7. Sam: "Robot?" Dean: "Yeah about the size of a house…shoots destructo beams out of its eyes." Sam: "At least I'll see it coming."
6. Jean: "Turns out not even grim flipping death can slow down the birthday fun."
5. Dean: "I'm sorry…you look like you got attacked by some PCP crazed strippers."
4. Dean: "Close but no Seabiscuit. See I went and had a little chat with Billy and he drew me this." Sam: "Wait, so now unicorns are evil?" Dean: "Yeah obviously."
3. Dean: "Alright well let's do it but…uh, a few simple rules okay?" No babies. In fact no baby mamas, no bars, no booze…no hot chicks of any kind." Sam: "Wait, wait, wait…did you just say…" Dean: "Hey you spawn a monster baby, see how quick you want to dive back in the pool."
2. Dean: "So what are we looking for? An octovamp…a vamptopus?" Sam: "That's crazy even for us right?" Dean: "It does push the envelope."
1. Dean: "Seriously, Dractopus, Seabiscuit the Impaler, land shark…what's next?"
Oh, shit. The hardest of all the polls! IT WAS SO DIFFICULT TO CHOOSE! I end up choosing Point of No Return. Needlees to say, that it was an amazing episode. Great poll! :)
ReplyDeleteCan't believe you don't have The Rapture higher on your list. But then again yes I can. I often wondered why Castiel wouldn't have shredded Claire's body but the dialogue between Claire/Cas and Jimmy just before Castiel takes Jimmy over again is some damn fine writing if only for a minute.
ReplyDeleteRepo Man quotes: This may be the very hardest episode to find good quotes from. Basically only Lucifer and the demon got any line worth mentioning. Add to it another completely implausible, asinine ending....hey surprise demon trap, how'd you get there?...and you've got a terrible episode.
ReplyDelete11. Sutton: "Thought you guys might show up. It's the drummer boys, Agents…uh, Bonham…and Watts right?"
10. Dean: "Wait, why? Demons aren't usually into the obsessive serial killer cr**. You know they're more just kind of all-around evil. Why would he do this?"
9. Sam: "So what do you think?" Dean: "I think we really helped mess this poor SoB up. Look at him. He's got a state-assigned dad."
8. Sam: "Yeah well… new plan. Tacking spell…Bavarian, Egyptian, I don't care, dealer's choice. Use the flesh of the body to find the body and Dean. Do you want the ear or the kid?" Lucifer: "You're giving me the chills."
7. Dean: "Sorry, just had to make sure." Jeffrey: "Make sure of what? That I peed my pants today? Aw, you scared my dog."
6. Sam: "A demon summoning….why?" Lucifer: "Why? To summon a demon jacka**. Start looking at who."
5. Dean: "I don't usually endorse suicide but man, what stopped you?" Jeffrey: "It was Alan at the house." Dean: "You're kidding me." Jeffrey: "He's a really good rehab therapist. Really helped me focus on my goals, my attitude. I have to say I really benefitted from the whole program."
4. Lucifer: " Come on Sammy. Come on…say it with me now. Good morning Vietnam!"
3. Lucifer: "Oh no, that's every cell phone Dean's got. One of them should've picked up right? Big brother's probably dead." Sam: "Shut up." Lucifer: "He said, 'Shut up,' to me."
2. Sam: "Look I know it must've been…um, hard." Lucifer: "Do you ever listen to yourself? Oh don't bother."
1. Demon: "Do I smell menopause? Well if it isn't the Wiccan b**of the west."
Strangely enough, just realized that my favourite episodes of seasons 3, 4 and 5 were written by him (Sin City, In the Beginning and Point of No Return).
ReplyDeleteIf it helps 10, 11, and 12 were all tossups. I've seen The Rapture at least 100 times and in the end what I remember most besides the canon problem is that Sam is a jerk throughout the whole episode, Jimmy eats a lot, and the kid was awesome. What I remember most about the dialogue is 9 billion versions of:
ReplyDeleteJimmy: "I want to go home." Sam (in some jerky way): "You can't."
I'm actually surprised that Point of No Return doesn't have more votes than it does. It is usually very popular on this sight, but of course it is very early so things will probably change.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Usually Sin City does not get much love in the fandom, especially since season 3 included such heavy hitters as Bad Day at Black Rock, A Very SPN Christmas, Mystery Spot, and Jus in Bello. I feel like it's a superb episode squeezed out by the fact that some of the very best SPN episodes were in season 3. Just think of what could have happened if there had not been a writers' strike.
ReplyDeletere: Sacrifice: "nothing happened...well except negating the entire season..."
ReplyDeleteSo, you'd say that "negating" the entire season by having the plan to seal hell fall through at the last minute is something that was boring and not usual? Hmmmm...
Season 1 finale: "We help dad Kill Yellow Eyes" -- Result: Their father burning in hell and the demon free
season 2 finale: "We have to kill Yellow Eyes and save the world from his demonic influence" -- Result: 1 dead Azazel, hundreds upon hundreds of demons escaping into the world, and a brother destined to replace his father in hell...
season 3 finale: "We have to stop Lilith and save Dean from going to hell" -- result: Dean is ripped to shreds, dragged to hell, and Lilith goes on to break 66 seals to free Lucifer from hell
season 4 finale: "We have to stop Lilith from breaking the seals and loosing Lucifer on the world!" -- Result: The apocalypse starts and Lucifer is freeeee...
season 5 finale: "We have to stop the apocalypse before billions are killed!" -- result: Actually, this is 1 plan that "went well" even with poor Sammy and Adam stuck in the cage downstairs.
season 6 finale: "We have to stop the angels and Crowley from opening up our world to a new evil from Purgatory!" -- result: Castiel absorbs billions of souls of monsters and goes on a power trip
season 7 finale: "We have to stop the leviathans from being boring!" -- result: The leviathans were still boring -- Just kidding, it's another finale where things actually went according to plan...
season 8 finale: "We have to stop Naomi and Crowley from their power plays and we have to seal hell forever!" -- result: Abaddon is set loose, Crowley isn't quite cured, Metatron pulls a fast one and kills Naomi, uses Cas for a spell that dispels all the angels from heaven--not fallen but involuntarily ripped from their homes, and Dean refuses to sacrifice Sam again in a vain attempt to right the world of evil when it would likely have implications and cause as much harm as it would do good...
I took it as a sort of breaking of a cycle -- outside of the characters being incredibly ooc half the season, it was nice to see the decision made by the Winchesters to just stop while they're ahead and not be too trigger happy with their well-being. (And Damn what the hell else can they do to Sammy? Rip his soul apart again??)
I think the entire episode up until the last 5 minutes and 3 minutes in the middle when Abaddon makes a cameo was boring. What happened? Dean and Sam argued, they tricked Crowley (that scene was a winner), Dean ranted at Sam, Cas came and took Dean so he could sit in a bar drinking for a third of the episode, Sam talked at Crowley, Crowley talked at Sam, Cas talked to the cupid, Cas and Metatron talked, Abaddon broke in for a brief respite from the talking (yeah), Naomi talked at Cas, Naomi talked at Metatron, Metatron talked at Naomi (the only action of which took place off screen which was a shame because I would have loved to see her die), Crowley weeped, Dean and Sam emoangsted their patented finale broment, and then angels fell (action at last for 30 seconds).
ReplyDeleteNothing happened in this episode. The first half of the season was wasted on a brother rift that ultimately meant nothing. Purgatory and Benny came to naught. Amelia came to naught, so basically the whole first half was null and void. The second half was about the trials. They were supposed to be purifying Sam but we find out in the finale that nope, wasn't happening. They spent half a season working to close the gates of hell, but nope didn't happen. Cas spent half the year doing something or another with the angel tablet, but nope that was all a hoax. Dean did get more experience in cooking so I guess that's one thing. Basically the only thing that wasn't negated by season's end was the Men of Letters bunker. That was Jeremy Carver's sole permanent contribution to season 9. Thank goodness that ended up being awesome or the entire season would have been utterly pointless. Basically everything everyone did this year was a giant waste of time.
I, for one, have really enjoyed Carver as a show runner. It took some time to heal what Gamble did, but I think he did it. He's good, he's got an idea of where he's going, everyone on set seems happier. That's a miracle. No J2 calling, talking to directors, and rewriting parts because of Gamble. I'm happy. I look forward to where he's going with this. That said, I wish I could vote for every episode other than Family Remains. It is my least favorite of his. I went with Sacrifice but that was difficult choice. I almost went with the Christmas episode.
ReplyDeleteTime After Time
Dean: "Sweet merciful awesome." - Just because i love hear Dean say that. lol
Dean: "Alright let's do this. Move fast." Sam: "Wait, wait, wait. What's the plan exactly." Dean: "Don't die."
Slice Girls
Sam: "Look…Dean the thing is tonight….it almost got you killed. Now I don't care how you deal. I really, really don't, but just don't…don't get killed." Dean: "I'll do what I can." Sam: "Well what's that supposed to mean?"
Dean: "I'll admit it could be in the general vicinity of the ballpark of our kind of thing." Sam: "Yeah…uh, 'didn't match anything human' usually seals the deal for me."
Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie had so many.
Dean: "Wait, wait, wait…this isn't about your…uh, your clown thing is it?" Sam: "What? No!" Dean: "Sammy?" Sam: "No." Dean: "Yeah what in the world did they do to you? Alright you know what, never mind. Just know that 99.99% of all clowns can't hurt you okay? And if it bleeds you can kill it." Sam: "If it bleeds, you can kill it."
Dean: "Well what's my cover." Sam: "I don't know. Just hang back. Act normal." Dean: "Yeah, yeah guy in his thirties hanging out at Plucky's alone…that's normal. That's not pervy at all."
Repo Man
I don't have a single one worth adding here. I'm leaving he poll empty.
Tough choice. Voted for Point Of No Return. Others I loved: Changing Channels, Mystery Spot, Free To Be You and Me, In The Beginning, A Very Supernatural Christmas, Death Takes A Holiday, and Sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteDead Men Don't Wear Plaid and We Need To Talk About Kevin were good.
The Rapture and Sin City were okay.
Long Distance Call and Family Remains I disliked and found to be boring.
AVSC - but I also really enjoyed Mystery Spot, The Rapture, FR, ITB, SC, and LDC.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few of his episodes that I never watched again - DMDWP, POR, CC, DTAH, WNTTAK.
Sacrifice has a really great brother moment I enjoyed, but I don't think the overall episode was all that good. But that's JMO.
Interesting . . . . I'm no fan of POR. I think I was over Dean's depression by that point.
ReplyDeleteSo was I but I am usually very much in the minority on that.
ReplyDeleteOmg so many brilliant episodes. Very hard choice, even though I did eventually go with mystery spot (which I still my fave episode) it pained me not to vote for changing channels (again trickster episodes are the best)
ReplyDeleteAlso would have loved to vote for a very supernatural Christmas and point of no return (for nothing else than my sheer happiness and excitement when dean shoved that blade through Zachariah's head)
Reading all these quotes, I so have to watch this episode again. I love it so much. Just a fun episode
ReplyDeleteSlice Girls
ReplyDeleteDean: "Alright well let's do it but…uh, a few simple rules okay?" No
babies. In fact no baby mamas, no bars, no booze…no hot chicks of any
kind." Sam: "Wait, wait, wait…did you just say…" Dean: "Hey you
spawn a monster baby, see how quick you want to dive back in the pool."
I think this quote sort of defines Dean's attitude in later episodes. He got a big scare here!
Sam: "You know George Foreman named all his sons George." Dean:
"Are you deliberately messing with me? Dude I know weird okay? There
is no non-weird explanation for this. This morning Emma was a baby. By
sunset she's Hannah Montana…early years."
X
Bad luck with picking out a one night stand, Dean!
PP.
ReplyDeleteSam: "Robot?" Dean: "Yeah about the size of a house…shoots destructo
beams out of its eyes." Sam: "At least I'll see it coming."
Sam just makes me laugh here. :)
X
Dean: "Alright well let's do it but…uh, a few simple rules okay?" No
babies. In fact no baby mamas, no bars, no booze…no hot chicks of any
kind." Sam: "Wait, wait, wait…did you just say…" Dean: "Hey you
spawn a monster baby, see how quick you want to dive back in the pool."
I think this quote sort of defines Dean's attitude in later episodes. He got a big scare here!
Dean: "Alright let's do this. Move fast." Sam: "Wait, wait, wait. What's the plan exactly." Dean: "Don't die."
ReplyDeleteLove caring brothers. :)
. Sam: "Are those local feeds?" Dean: "Yeah." Sam: "How did you do
that so fast?" Dean: "A little tutorial from Frank. Don't worry,
we'll pretend this never happened."
AW, Sam was miffed by Dean's ability. A nice brotherly moment. :)
Sorry about that. It should be fixed now so you shouldn't have any more trouble nominating.
ReplyDeleteThat ending scene in Slice Girls just gutted me. Too much like mid season 5 Dean.
ReplyDeleteSo many amazing episodes to choose from! I loved, loved, loved, loved Free to be You and Me, Point of No Return, Changing Channels, The Rapture, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Sacrifice, Mystery Spot, and A Very Supernatural Christmas.
ReplyDeletePPMM had great lines all the way through. It was another where I had to cut so many just to get a manageable list.
ReplyDeleteI love how they never seem to have a plan A that works and yet they always get the job done.
ReplyDeletePerhaps a shifter has taken over Jeremy Carver so he could replace 2 shifter Winchester brothers with the real thing too. I am out of plausible explanations for how season 3 and season 8 Jeremy Carver could be the same person.
ReplyDeleteZachariah's death will ever remain a high point in the series for me. Such a visceral death where I was cheering out loud. Same thing happened when Ruby finally bought it.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the episodes I put on if I had a bad day and I just need to laugh. Bad Day at Black Rock, Mystery Spot, and Changing Channels are also good mood lifters. Well the first part of Mystery Spot that is.
ReplyDeleteI wound up picking Changing Channels.
ReplyDeletehmm. had to look up Sacrafice. Turns out it's in the batch of eps I haven't watched yet. I'm still 5 eps behind on the end of this season. "nothing happened….well except it negating the entire season. A talkfest that turned into a snoozefest." Doesn't make me want to rush.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly this was easy, A Very Supernatural Christmas is one of my top 5 eps..did not even wish I had another vote...so your Alastair inner self was a waste. lol The one I figure will win, Changing Channels is not even in my top 40..for me the first half is silly and not worth watching until Trickster shows up.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of season 1 we did not know John was going to hell, they all looked dead in Baby, other than that you hit them pretty close. lol
ReplyDeleteSurprised how hard that was for me. 3 were possible for me, but in the end, A SPN Christmas for the wee ones, the humor, the broments.
ReplyDeleteYes you are correct. I jumped the gun a bit on that one lol
ReplyDeleteHa, I have the same quotes as one and two and just used number one yesterday commenting on a Veronica Mars movie update. So I use it often also. Lot of good one in this ep
ReplyDeleteDean: "Awesome." Ness: "How does that fill you with awe?" Dean: "Don't give me that dirty diaper look. I ain't calling you." Sam: "That was Sheriff Mills. She caught us one." Dean: "Oh I feel bad. We didn't get her anything." Loved the something alive in at least 3 boxes and Dean being able to show Sam something new on the computer. Anime is an art form. Good stuff and Jason Dohring always makes things better..Logan, Josef(Moonlight), Mr. Carpenter(the only good thing about Ringer)
Your last paragraph summed up my thought perfectly.
ReplyDelete"re-hashed story lines that had been put to rest seasons before, illogical episodes which seemed to have no connection one to the other; ample use of secondary characters and uncaring canon-trashing with OOC brothers and unpleasant contrived brother tension."
ReplyDeleteI've been seeing all of this since season 5 at the latest (and some of this before season 5), so I think it's either on Bob Singer, or just showrunner-proof.
It's always a big adjustment going from writer to showrunner. I think Carver did some things, like letting go of some of the worst Dean/Cas baggage, and lifting some of Dean's misery, and bringing in some new, interesting supporting players (the ones who lived...) right, and other things wrong, especially the bad pacing, the overuse of recurring people dying, too much conflict for the sake of conflict, and some terrible, terrible writing for Sam, especially in the first half.
Crap, I meant to vote for The Rapture, accidentally went for something else. The scenes of Jimmy before he became Cas' vessel are some of the most heartbreaking ever on the show, for me, especially his sense of wonder and purity. Misha was phenomenal throughout this episode. The scene on the lake is gorgeous. I really liked that Dean's dream was of peace. The scene of Dean realizing Sam is really hooked on demon blood. The look on Dean's face when Jimmy is shot. The scene where Jimmy begs Cas to take him and leave Claire.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they were said to be purifying Sam outside of his one comment to Dean. They mostly seemed to be killing him slowly.
ReplyDeleteI thought some parts of the season were well built up (I thought Dean became more open and caring, although I never know if that will last with this show, I liked that we learned more about Kevin and Charlie, I liked the bunker), but I agree there was so much which led nowhere. Some may have been setup for next season (the angel tablet), some was probably dropped story (everything with Amelia felt that way), some I don't know (Benny - he may be back).
I agree and I have loved this ep from the first viewing and never get tired of watching it. Misha was excellent and Jensen has always been great at the non-verbal acting.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get new comers to start watching this show, my first comment to them is, you have to pay attention because so much is silent acting..don't be washing dishes, cooking or what ever just watch the show.
I agree with you about Sam's blood being "purified." Other than Sam's comment to Dean, there's no proof that that's what was happening. It's what Sam thought or hoped was true. This was another loose thread, IMO.
ReplyDeleteOh Jeez...this is beyond impossible. Can I vote for 8 of them? LOL! The man can WRITE! I ended up voting for Sacrifice, because he brought the boys to a place where they needed to be for so very long...complete honesty...and he allowed them to sacrifice the world this time...for each other. It's SPN at it's best.
ReplyDeletePoint of no Return was on recently on TNT. I HAD to stop and watch it. Easily one of my favorite eps ever!
ReplyDeleteI was on the verge of voting for it, but the end of Sacrifice pulled me just past it...barely. But Point of no Return was pure SPN...and eppy #100 as well!
ReplyDeleteI guess my problem with Sam's offhand comment is that it was the one reason why it really made sense for Sam to do the trials alone and then it became nothing. I wish they would have at least continued with that since then the whole thing would feel more personal, like the Winchesters would benefit from this as well instead just a series of hoops to jump through.
ReplyDeleteThe bunker was the best addition by far. It's good that they have a place to center on after bobby's home being blown to smithereens. If it does not become the Factory of Easy Answers, it should be the one solid thing to start building season 9 on. I liked Kevin a lot better last season when he was a shining light in the end of season fiasco. As for Charlie, while I thought Pac-Man Fever was one of the best things of the season, it is a little said that the best people can say about season 8 is that it gave a very minor character some background.
For me it becomes lost plot potential. When they made it about purifying Sam from demon blood, it made the quest far more personal.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't miss anything but the last 3 minutes, Abaddon, and Crowley...and a whole lot of talking about things that ended up either not mattering or being a hoax anyway.
ReplyDeleteI love when the show gives us quotes we can actually use in real life. This is one of my favorites. I agree that Jason Dohring is always a great casting call. He was by far my favorite part about Moonlight.
ReplyDelete"Re-hashed story lines" has been a complaint since the Kripke years but the overwhelming emphasis of secondary characters and canon-trashing are new with Carver. He also took "contrived brother tension" to a whole new level and drew it out longer. I agree he lifted a little bit of the Dean despair, although it still needs work, and secondary characters have more ooomph, but that's a poor trade-off for the damage caused.
ReplyDeleteIf we had two votes, it probably would have been my choice too although I find it really hard to choose between Changing Channels and Mystery Spot.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually easier than I thought too. A Very SPN Christmas just felt right. Now if we had had 2 votes, I think that would have been harder for me. Perhaps my unconscious mind was keeping me from an Alastair situation after all.
ReplyDeleteIt ended up being my choice because it combines so many elements of Supernatural into one excellent 42 minutes. There is definitely something for everyone in this episode.
ReplyDeleteI would have gladly watched Moonlight with Jason as the lead, but I am still mad at CBS for dropping it. For me it is the best thing that Alex has done, much better than H50
ReplyDeleteI came into Moonlight late and like Firefly, I don't quite understand all the hype. I thought they were both decent but for me not passion-worthy. It didn't help that I couldn't stand the main female half the time and I have no patience for swoony romances. However I thought Jason was a very fascinating character and I always found myself irritated when they pulled away from him to go back to the forbidden love junk. My favorite episode was when they gave us all that delicious back story on Josef. It's actually the same way I feel about Dark Angel. If they had focused on Alec and Joshua instead of the drippy, annoying Max love story, I think the show would have stayed on the air longer.
ReplyDeleteWhen I rewatch Dark Angel, it is always season 2, loved Joshua and Alec.
ReplyDeleteI mostly thought Kevin was one-note last season, so I was happy to see more layers (although I wish they hadn't killed his mother and had him run away 5 times).
ReplyDeleteI agree the purifying made sense. I do think it purified him in one way, in that he was finally able to say what he'd probably been feeling for years, but I wish the characters weren't torn down all the time in the writing.
I think the secondary characters stuff started around season 4 (I remember heavy complaints about this at the time). I guess it depends on how people feel about them. I like most of them, unless you have episodes where Dean and Sam stand around, like that stupid episode about the familiar.
ReplyDeleteJust too many episodes to pick from, I'm gonna go with the one from recent memory (second to most recent). We Need to Talk about Kevin really redeemed the show after the past two seasons
ReplyDeleteYes! I think you recommended it once as a good intro to SPN for non-fans and I agree, because it has the whole baseline story in a little package, and charms the socks off everyone.
ReplyDeleteI figure if someone doesn't find something they love enough to watch another SPN episode while watching A Very SPN Christmas, they are never going to love SPN.
ReplyDeleteWe must have been on different boards because except for The Rapture I don't recall anyone complaining that secondary characters were taking over the show at all in season four. It was mostly heated discussions about Ruby and the demon blood addiction story line and of course the always popular brother wars.
ReplyDeleteI thought Kevin regressed in season 2, especially once we got midseason. I also couldn't stand that he could read the leviathan scroll with no problem at all last year but this season poof, he's stymied by the demon one even though the same guy had written both. Made no sense, screwed with canon, and made Kevin look incompetent. I did like when he soaked everybody all the time though. That made a fun running gag.
ReplyDeleteI agree about tearing characters down in the writing. It is old and hopefully things will get more positive next season for people.
When I do a true rewatch I have to start from the beginning. I'm OCD like that. However when I pick and choose episodes, it's always season 2 for me too.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do a big rewatch of SPN I usually start with season 4, go all the way thru then go to season 1 and go all the way thru AGAIN. I do this at least once a year. ;) This year I am starting with season 1, have been watching a lot of SPN youtube videos and am in love with JDMorgan, not the father of the year, but he is so HOT. lol
ReplyDeleteI'm the opposite. I start with season 1 and then generally break down somewhere around season 4. It takes awhile to soldier on from there.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you. It annoys me everyone is taking Sam's personal speculation as fact. Nowhere was it stated as fact that's what happened to him. Personally, that demon blood garbage was in the garbage when season four ended. It was stupid the whole time it was on the show anyway.
ReplyDeleteSame here. Honestly, I stop at season three. My problems with the show began in season four and escalated from there.
ReplyDeleteI am seriously the weirdest fan for this show - I couldn't stand this episode. When I tell other fans, they look at me like I'm crazy. Good thing I'm used to that look.
ReplyDeleteI have problems with Sam in season 4 and Dean in season 5 so they are both hard for me to get through. Once I hit six it's easy sailing. I'm pretending season 8 doesn't exist so life is good.
ReplyDeleteIt annoys me that the writers threw it in if they were not planning on following through. First Sam's blood was clean in Sympathy for the Devil after the the soul plane experience. Then it wasn't. Then Sam was clean at least power wise in season 6. Then he wasn't. They mentioned the trials as purifying Sam. Then it wasn't. I just want something to finally get the freaking demon blood story over.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I loved and was hooked on the show from the pilot, season 4 just ramped up the awesomeness and I felt the Angel/Demon arc made the show better and Misha played a big part of that, but even the Angels that were DICKS were fabulous, thinking of you Zac. lol
ReplyDeleteTrue.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the idea of demon blood, but it was never clear to me how it "tainted" Sam. Can a few drops infect one's whole body? Did baby Sam lick it up? It just stayed there on his lips. They should have said the DB was like a virus or something that impacts all the blood in the body. That could have made the "tainted" blood story make more sense. I think it's more psychological for Sam than anything else.
ReplyDeleteAt this point I think it is psychological too but there are many fans out there that would like to see a return of the Sam the Boy King story line. I most certainly do NOT. The demon blood plot caused a lot of friction last time and I don't ever need to revisit that.
ReplyDeleteI think he could have translated the whole thing if he wanted to, but he was stalling Crowley, and then it was broken in half.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if we can mention different boards or not, but yes, I saw heavy complaining about this, especially episodes like On the Head of a Pin, which had so much angel focus.
ReplyDeleteHuh? He should be able to read half a tablet as easily as a full one and then when he had a full one he still couldn't read it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of that episode. Did not like the Adam retcons, and most of his story lost its power when he returned. I disliked that Dean was written as pushing away everyone and there was zero resolution for any of this, other than Dean nodding along as Sam prepared to kill himself. And the whole scene of Cas beating the crap out of Dean was gratuitous and never followed up on.
ReplyDeleteThey really did a number on Dean's relationships with everyone in the second half of season 5 and it was seemingly just for angst. I don't care for it.
On this we agree. Dean angst went way overboard in season 5 and it made the season hard for me to watch. Similar with Sam in season 4.
ReplyDeleteI think the tablet being torn in half would have more of a struggle, because you'd have no idea what the other half said and you'd have to try to piece the true meaning together.
ReplyDeleteI'm already forgetting parts of the season so if he saw it whole again and couldn't read it, you're right, that's strange/bad writing.
I know he translated the angel tablet very quickly after Cas and Dean asked him to do so.
I don't mind angst if it has some good resolution, but it just never really did for me in most of 5-7.
ReplyDeleteFinally caught up with the end of the season. I'm hoping Abaddon means no more Crowley. (Sorry, but for me it's felt like they had to work too hard to keep him on the canvas.) I had trouble reacting to the hoax part because I was reacting to the fact that Sam had put himself through all that pain for nothing. There were moments where I was hoping that he'd finish it anyway and survive. Because of that...I managed to completely miss The Scribe's endgame. Was he planning to kick all the angels out and have the place all to himself? Was glad Dean professed faith in his bother and the fact that he needed him to stay alive.
ReplyDeleteLoved Moonlight-Alex was a much better "good" vampire than Edward Cullen-and sexier, too. Jason was awesome as Josef and was a very fascinating character. I think it would have lasted several seasons if there had been no writers' strike.
ReplyDeleteLoved season 2Dark angel. Jensen was great as smart alecky Alec(precursor to Dean?) & Joshua was a character you couldn't help but love
ReplyDeleteAlec is my second favorite Jensen role. I think it's because I too think of him as a precursor to Dean.
ReplyDeleteUsing the word "sexier" in the same sentence with Edward is not something I would ever do. LOL Worse vampire I have ever seen..who would want to snuggle with a marble statue. ;)
ReplyDelete