Sunday, November 28, 2010

SPNews


SPN returns December 3. Caged Heat will have Grandpa Samuel, Castiel and Meg. TVOvermind has a sneak peek clip and some spoilers.

Zap2it has some big time spoilers for Caged Heat. (I didn’t read them.)

Oh No They Didn’t has some cute pics of Mr. and Mrs. Ackles at a recent Lakers game.

Boo! Jared Padelecki lost out to The Vampire Diaries Paul Wesley in Entertainment Weekly’s Under-appreciated Entertainer of the Year poll.

A fan has started a 1,000,000 Fans to Get Jensen Ackles to host SNL facebook page.

Lastly I leave you with this LOL parody that somehow escaped my attention until now. Make sure you pay close attention to the awesome signs in Stupornatural.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Supernatural Gifts





I realized that there's not a new episode tonight, so I did some online shopping for y'all, to see what to give the Supernatural fan.

(Disclaimer: most of my links are to Amazon because I'm lazy.)

First, the calendar. What I don't get is how every other show/movie/idea has a calendar at Borders, but SPN does not. Anyway, Amazon has one. Old pics, but still.





Next, this really nifty throw. I want it a lot, and it's down $10 from when I found it.






If you haven't gotten season 5 on DVD yet, Amazon has it for less than $20!


Then there's this awesome keychain at Etsy. Since Best Buy SCREWED UP my DVD order and I didn't get my Impala keychain, I'd be very happy with this.
She has other SPN items as well.

What do you want Santa to bring you?

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Monday News for Thanksgiving Week

There is no other way to start this post than to say I am thankful for Supernatural. I know, total cliché. Sorry. Moving on.

First, the bad news, which I discovered as I started preparing this last Wednesday but by now those who watched the preview at the end of the last episode will have discovered: no new Supernatural next week! What, they think people don't watch TV gorged with turkey leftovers and exhausted from doorbuster shopping? Crazy.

Worse news? Hellatus begins after the December 10th episode, as mentioned in this EW interview with Sera Gamble. What she says (SPOILER ALERT) may be encouraging. Or not. And we thought Kripke was evil!

Get your holiday gift list ready: The Supernatural Season Five Official Companion is out!

Don't forget to vote in the People's Choice Awards. Supernatural made the finals for "Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show."

I saw lots of spoilers in the news (this is why I delete all my Google alerts when I'm not responsible for News Monday!):

Upcoming guest star; TV Guide Preview; Episode 10 photos (possibly a duplicate from the guest star link); Interview with Misha. Here's another, slightly older, interview with Misha. More spoiler tidbits from Sera Gamble.

And a new interview with Jensen and Jared. It's a new post, but it was conducted before the premiere, so their hints are amusing now that we know the truth about things. There's only one thing that could be considered a spoiler, about the necklace.

Here's a Misha Collins property that's way too entertaining for its description. Warning: last ten seconds not safe for anyone under, like, 18.

Anyone watch Castle a couple of weeks ago? The actor who played Jesse, the AntiChrist, was an abducted child. His mother was played by Ever Carradine, who played his mother on Supernatural, too! What guest-star spottings have you made recently?

Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Truth About Fairies...

Sorry for the slight delay in my post--caught the 10 pm showing of Harry Potter last night and this was the soonest I could watch the show and post a recap! We open on a corn field in Indiana where a young couple is making out, until they hear something. An ill-fated Patrick announces, "There's something in the corn" and leaves his date to investigate. (Clearly he's never seen Children of the Corn!) But then he looks up to a bright light and disappears. The camera pans up over his date to show us a version of a crop circle and we go into hilariously X-files-esque credits. (Is it like the twentieth anniversary of X files or something this week? Castle had an homage, too. I know the boys have temporarily parted ways with Grandpa Samuel, but it would have been great to use Mitch Pileggi somehow!)

Cut to interviews of townspeople where everyone except the skeptical local law enforcement is claiming alien abduction--well, and a rosy-cheeked woman claiming the abduction was "Fairies!" Soulless Sam tells her it's fine that she puts glitter in the glue she's sniffing but that they don't want to step in her wackadoo, prompting a lecture from Dean on empathy. Dean tells him that from now on, he'll be Sam's conscience, which Sam says makes him his Jiminy Cricket :-)

From there, they go to interview missing Patrick's father, who insists they can't help. As soon as they leave, the man addresses a question to seemingly no one. The brothers agree to keep the father under observation and split up, with Dean admonishing Sam not to speak to or maim any of the populace. Then we see Dean in the crop circle. Sam calls (love Dean's ring tone) and while they're on the phone, Dean sees lights and yells "UFO! UFO! Close encounters!" (Sam, "What kind? First? Second? Better run man, I think Fourth kind is a butt thing." Dean, "Empathy, Sam! Empathy!") And then Dean is gone, although Sam--getting a beer and ogling the waitress--doesn't seem too distressed.

Dean's cell ringing again--it's Sam calling and trying to use the phone to find his brother. But no dice. Then we see the encampment of trailers and RVs decorated with little green men and playing Close Encounters of 3rd Kind music. Sam engages the guy in charge (who tells him the truth is out there) and asks how they get these ETs. Soulless Sam asks the guy if he's "considered the possibility that you suck at hunting UFOs." But even without empathy, he still manages to pick up a girl who volunteers to help.

When Dean is returned to the corn field, he makes his way to the hotel room and finds Sam and the helpful girl naked in bed. Soulless Sam: "Y-you're upset?" During the ensuing argument, Dean realizes he's been gone a lot longer than the hour he thought. Sam trying to "empathize" with Dean's experience is kind of hilarious.

After Dean showers, they go out for food and Dean's miffed that while "our reality's collapsing around us, you're trying to pick up the waitress?" Sam may have no soul, but he's totally got a libido. Dean tells him that when you're brother's abducted, you don't bang chicks, you "sit in the dark and feel the loss." Sam: "So having a soul equals suffering?" Dean: "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying."

Dean sees a creepy guy watching them through the diner window, but Sam doesn't. They split up to study UFO lore and Dean's alone in the hotel room (with "Ground Control to Major Tom" playing) when the "aliens" come back. This time, in the form of a small light...that is sort of kicking his butt until he traps it in the microwave and seemingly nukes it. But only Dean sees the blood and "eccck" in the microwave. He describes his assailant as "a little naked lady. A little, glowing...hot naked lady with nipples. And she hit me." Unempathetic Sam, "I'm not supposed to laugh, right?" It's Sam who asks if the tiny naked lady had wings and decides Crazy woman wasn't crazy after all. "Hey, you're the one who pizza-rolled Tinkerbell, I'm just doing the math."

They go see the crazy woman who tells them that Fairy comes in all kinds of mischievous shapes and sizes. Only people who've been abducted into the fairy realm can see the creatures in our world. She gives them lots of advice and shares her personal theory that people are abducted to "service Oberon, king of the fairies." Once they leave, Dean asks, "Is it on me? I feel like I got the crazy ON me." Sam, "No. You did sit in some glitter, though." They see Patrick's father loading up his car trunk with cream (which fairies apparently love.) Dean: "You stick with half and half, I'll check out his store. And no hippie chicks!"

At the watchworks store, Dean is now able to see all manner of short magical people and backs away. Tells Sam on the phone, "It's like the story with the shoe guy and all the elves." Sam approaches the watchmaker and accuses, "I don't know how one man could put out that much product...You have a bunch of elves working for you. How does a father decide to trade a son for a bunch of watches? I'm assuming you have a soul, so what's your excuse?" While Soulless Sammy grills the dad (who summoned magic folk for help when his Parkinson's threatened his ability to provide for his family) we cut to Dean on the street, still being watched--and followed--by the creepy guy. But then Dean mistakenly assaults the wrong guy on the street (the very short county DA) and is arrested for his "hate crime." (Doesn't help that Dean was yelling, "Fight the fairies!")

Sam and Patrick's hapless father, who has wanted to unsummon the fairies since they got here, go to the safe and try to get the spell book. The watchmaker gets killed while trying to send them back and it turns out that the lead UFO enthusiast is an evil leprechaun who realizes Sam is different. "Your soul is far away...but not completely out of reach." The leprecahun offers to get the soul back for a price. Sam: "So you're my blue fairy? You can make me a real boy again?" And then Sam shoots him with iron, which the leprechaun declares "painful but not a deal breaker" and attacks.

Meanwhile, creepy guy who's been following Dean shows up in Dean's cell. Now both bros are getting their butts kicked by Faery Folk. Sam ends up using some of crazy woman's bizarre advice to distract the leprechaun and read from the book, banishing all the creatures back to their own realm. Ends with guys having a beer on the Impala--very old times--but Dean is worried that Sam didn't take the leprechaun's deal because Sam is having second thoughts about being re-ensoulled. Although Sam says this isn't the case, it clearly is.

I want to thank the producers of the show for giving us our third relatively gore free episode in a row (especially one I had to recap) but from the previews of the next new ep (December 3rd, featuring "Hell's Prison") I'd say my vacation from gore is coming to an end. This ep was a realtively light look at the grim reality we've been dealing with all season--Sam's inhumanity. I found it to be pretty entertaining and a welcome light touch, considering how heavy this season has been so far. What did you guys think?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Vote for Jared!

I came across this when I was prepping Monday's news post, but I'm afraid if I wait until then, it will be too late.

Vote for Jared as Under-Appreciated Entertainer of the Year at Entertainment Weekly. He's losing pretty badly to Paul Wesley!

See all the matchups here.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Supernatural News

Not much this week, and what I could find is not good.

Supernatural was down in ratings 18% this past week, which is disturbing in light of the revelations the previous week. Did people get the answers they wanted and stop watching? Or did they not like the answers they got?

TVovermind.com talks about the online community as it relates to the TV Guide cover poll. Supernatural was in the top 3, the winner to be revealed in December.
Jared is up against fellow San Antonian James Roday as underappreciated actor of the year at EW.

Anyone else have any news?

Friday, November 12, 2010

All Dogs Go To Heaven Recap

Then: Werewolves! AWESOME!!! I’m reading a Lori Handeland novel, so I’m IN. DANG. Just realized Tivo didn’t pick up last night’s Vampire Diaries.

Now: Dude talking baby talk on the phone gets stalked by something snarly, then explodes bloody. YUM. Time for a cookie.

Dean’s on the phone with Bobby, when Crowley appears at his elbow with a job. Dean resists and Crowley burns Sam’s hand with a touch. (Trust me when I say OUCH. Also, wish Crowley had been around to heal me like that three weeks ago. Fingers just now returning to normal.) Dean caves. Crowley promises Sam’s soul if the boys bag him a live alpha, and shows them a paper about a businessman killed with his heart ripped out.

Crowley: Werewolves turning on the full moon. So…’09.

Sam tells Dean he and his Sampa ganked one on the half moon, so they go after it.

Dean to Sam, complaining about working for a demon: Crowley’s so far up our ass we’re coughing sulphur.

Sam’s determined Dean knows he’s still Sam as they drive to the next case, a dock worker whose chest was ripped open and whose heart is missing.

So, question. A soul is the part of the body that makes you sleep?

Anyway, Sam’s been playing connect the victims, and damn, there’s my car. I love that car so much. They pull up to the house of the man who’s the common denominator and the woman who opens the door looks a lot like Lisa, don’t you think? They ask to see Cal, who staggers into the kitchen rubbing his head like he has a hangover. His German shepherd growls at him. Turns out he’s the brother of one of the victims. They didn’t have the best relationship—Cal called the cops on his brother the last time because his brother was out of control. Also, the businessman was his landlord. Cal and Mandy don’t think it’s weird both were killed by an animal attack, even after the Winchesters point it out.

That night they stake out Cal, following him as he barhops.

Dean: I’m getting cirrhosis just watching him.

Dawn comes and the guy’s still standing. The brothers drive off—too soon, I fear. Cal walks out to his truck and his German shepherd attacks. We see the attack through the dog’s eyes, then the dog changes to a man.

The man shows up in Mandy’s bedroom while she’s sleeping, shifts back to a dog and licks her awake. She realizes Cal isn’t home, and goes to shower while the dog watches. (This is a fear of mine. Anyone else?)

The brothers realize since Cal is dead, Mandy might be their alpha. Sam asks Dean if he can serve her up to Crowley if she’s the one. Dean reluctantly agrees. They go out to Mandy’s and have to break the news that Cal’s dead. They want her to come with them, Sam pretty heartlessly when she tells him her kid is sick and she doesn’t want to leave him. She reveals that her kid was up all night (so why was she sleeping so soundly when the dog came in?). Dean believes her alibi, but Sam wants to stay and watch the house. While he’s hanging next to a pretty nice playscape, he sees a naked man stand up and stretch inside the house. The man walks out and sniffs. Sam follows and sees dog-man talking to someone else, who gestures him back to the house. The dog-man sniffs again and turns in Sam’s direction, then bolts. Sam jumps over the fence in a very nice move after him. The guy shifts and—oh no! Hit by a minivan!

The driver loads the dog in to take it to the vet and drives off.

Sam called Dean to tell him it’s a skinwalker, a werewolf cousin. Same weaknesses, but can change anywhere, any time.

They go to the animal hospital and retrieve Lucky, first showing him silver bullets, then giving him a choice. They can do things the easy way—clothing—or the hard way—silver chains.

Sam is actually kind of funny in the interrogation in the hotel room. He’s threatening Lucky with a knife, when Dean interjects. He knows why Lucky stays with the family, to protect them. Dean wants to know who Lucky was talking to, and he tells Lucky if he reveals who the man is, that will protect the family.

Lucky speaks. He says there are about 30 skinwalkers, and they were recruited. Lucky had been homeless. One bite and they’d be fast and strong. They were told to find families and lay low, waiting for the word. Once they’re settled, they’ll get a signal, turn on their families and turn them.

Sam wants to know who organized them. They have a pack leader. Dean plays on Lucky’s emotions, wondering how he plans to take out this family he cares for, and Lucky helps.

Dean wants to take out the pack leader, but Sam wants to get the pack leader to lead them to the alpha. Dean is appalled (his go-to emotion this season) and asks if Sam wants 150 people turned into monsters. He said that Sam isn’t Sam and to stop pretending.

While Dean is behind a sniper rifle, Sam says he bets Lucky will double cross them. Sam would. He thinks that’s the only way he’ll go on living. Some men drive up in an SUV and a garage door opens,, revealing more people. Sam tells Dean to take the shot but he doesn’t have a clean view. Then the SUV opens and Mandy and her son get out. Sam urges Dean to take the shot. Dean says Mandy’s in the way and Sam tells him to take it anyway. Dean doesn’t, of course, and she’s ushered into the garage and the door closes.

“Plan B?” Sam asks.

“We’ve got one?” Dean responds.

Inside the garage, Mandy is confused. Lucky’s in trouble for unauthorized murders, and is told to turn Mandy and her son while the others watch. Sam charges into the garage and starts shooting, the pack leader first. Lucky pulls Mandy and her son out of the line of fire, and Sam comes upon some empty clothes. The skin walkers have shifted.

One attacks Dean, who has the sniper rifle barrel through a grate. It’s stuck, so he whips out his pistol at the last minute.

Lucky shifts to protect his family, and the man who turned him says he was going to turn the family but now he’s going to kill them. He shoots Lucky, but before he can kill him, Dean fires. Sam comes around the corner to see a smear of blood and a confused Mandy.

In a transition I didn’t quite get, Lucky the man shows up at Mandy’s house and tells her thanks for being kind to him. She rejects him, telling him to get away, calling him a psycho. He shifts back to a dog and wanders off.

Dean and Sam are walking in a park and a girl with a dog runs by. Dean swears he’ll never look at a dog the same way again and wonders how many packs are out there, waiting for the signal.

Sam tells Dean he’s right, that he’s not Sam and doesn’t really care about things, doesn’t care about Lisa and Ben, or really Dean, for that matter. He says he’s done bad things, killed innocents in the line of duty. He should feel guilty, but doesn’t. It’s more efficient, you get the job done and don’t feel bad about it. He remembers his life before and thinks he should go back to being him, which is why he wants his soul back, and why he wants Dean’s help. Dean agrees because he wants his brother back.

Oh, hallelujah, next week is a light-hearted episode. I have to go with Terri’s review from last week. I’ve not rewatched one episode this year. Last year, with the Apocalypse looming, we had more levity. Now, it’s just too gloomy.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

How About that Jared?

Last year, I did a post about the actors on the show, and that as far as Jared had come over the seasons, Jensen was just a better actor, and that was why he was getting all the solo shows and, with "The End," actually doubling his role.

So when are we going to get the Sam-only episode?

Setting aside all the issues we have with Soulless!Sam, let's look at Jared's performance for itself. He's spent 5 seasons honing his character. He knew all of Sam's nuances, his bitchface, his eyeroll, his puppy-dog eyes and intense determination. His best performances over the years were arguably when he was someone else (my vote goes, of course, to "Born Under a Bad Sign," when he channeled Meg), but by season 5, he'd gone far beyond the nostril-flare school of acting.

And now he's been asked to change everything, except not. He's supposed to still be Sam, but without the hallmarks that make him that character. No more puppy-dog eyes, no more bitchface, at least not the way he's always done them, as natural responses to his brother or any other character. Now, Sam has to think about how he would react to something, and fake it.

I like to think of acting as happening in one of two ways: putting in on, and projecting from within. I always said Jensen projects from within. He becomes the character on the inside, so he fully embodies Dean. Jared has usually been of the other type, as if he'd put on a Sam Suit and walked around inside the character. I think this season, he's made the switch to projection.

Jared has become a new Sam, and is living him from within. His character has become so much more complex, and I think Jared hasn't just stepped up his game, but leaped a few levels. Right from the start, we knew there was something wrong. And yet, he kept us guessing. He made us hate him (or at least dislike him), even some of those of us who loved him without reservation.

So do I miss Sammy-of-the-puppy-eyes-and-exasperation? Hell, yeah, and I really don't want him to go soulless for more than another episode or two. But I applaud Jared for his amazing performance, and I'm grateful to the writers for giving us the chance to see it, even if I don't want it anymore. :)


What do you think?

Sunday, November 7, 2010

The Winner of the Six Degrees Game

Is Melissa! Melissa, go to Cafepress.com, pick out a magnet you want, and send me a link. I'll get it to you.

This is how she did it:

Jared to Gerard Butler and Nathan Fillion
Jared was in Gilmore Girls with Milo Ventimiglia who was in Gamer with Gerard Butler who was in Dracula 2000 with Nathan Fillion

Jensen to Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion
Jensen and Neil are voices in Batman: Under the Red Hood and Neil Patrick was in Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog with Nathan Fillion

Jared to Nicholas Cage
Jared was in Friday the 13th with Danielle Panabaker who was in Mr Brooks with Kevin Costner
Kevin was in The Untouchables with Sean Connery who was in The Rock with Nicholas Cage

Jared to Bill Murray and Jeff Goldblum
Jared was in Gilmore Girls with Milo Ventimiglia who was in Cursed with Jesse Eisenberg
Jesse was in Zombieland with Bill Murray who was in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou with Jeff Goldblum

Jensen to Nicholas Cage
Jensen was in My Bloody Valentine with Jaime King who was in The Spirit with Samuel L. Jackson
Sam L was in Jumper with Diane Lane who was in Rumblefish with Nicholas Cage

Jensen to Viggo Mortensen
Jensen was in Dark Angel with Jessica Alba. Jessica was in Sin City with Elijah Wood
Elijah was in Lord of the Rings with Viggo Mortensen

Jensen to Gerard Butler
Jensen was in Dawson's Creek with Joshua Jackson who was in Bobby with Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins was in Amistad with Djimon Hounsou. Djimon was in Tomb Raider:Cradle of Life with Gerard Butler

Jensen to Tom Cruise
Jensen was in Smallville with Tom Welling who was in The Fog with Maggie Grace who was in Knight and Day with Tom Cruise

This is how I did it:

Nathan was in Firefly with Mark Shepard who was in SPN

Neil was in Glee with Cory Monteith from Glee who was in the Wendigo episode of SPN

Bill was in Ghostbusters with Sigourney Weaver who was in Avatar with Giovanni Rabisi who was in Flight of the Phoenix with Jared

Viggo was in LOTR with Dominic who was in LOST with Daniel Dae Kim who is in Hawaii Five-O with Grace Parks who was in Battlestar Galactica with Mark Shepard who was in SPN

Nicholas Cage was in Next with Jim Beaver who is in SPN.

Tom Cruise was in The Last Samurai with Chad Lindberg who was in SPN.

Jeff Goldblum was in Jurassic Park with Laura Dern who was with Chad in October Sky and Chad was on SPN.

Gerard was in The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston who was in Friends with Hugh Laurie who was in Flight of the Phoenix with Jared.

Whew!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Family Matters

So after the major walloping Dean delivered last week we open with a bloody and battered Sam tied to a chair and Cas looking over him. Dean and the surly angel are trying to figure out what’s wrong with Sammy.

“What? You think there’s a clinic out there for people who just pop out of hell wrong?” --Dean

After some questioning, they realize Sam doesn’t sleep. He hasn’t closed his peepers since he got back from Hell. Next Cas asks him how he feels and like a fifteen year old boy Sam says, “I don’t know.” The lack of feeling raises suspicion in Cas and he shoves a belt into Sam’s mouth. (Uh oh, I know what’s coming.) Sam bites the leather in agony as Cas reaches into his chest and searches for his soul. It ain’t there.

“One more time, like I’m five.” -- Dean

Dean is stunned. Castiel says Sam’s soul is probably still in Lucifer’s cage. Dean wants to know if Sam is actually Sam then. Cas says that’s a good question. Dean wants to keep his little brother locked up indefinitely, but Sam proves that impossible. (Okay, he escaped some ropes, but to say a panic room couldn’t hold him makes me wonder if he’s capable of more than we know.)

Ultimately Dean and Sam decide the best course of action if to find out who resurrected him. Only Sam doesn’t remember anything. He woke up in a field, but he thinks Samuel might know more since he too was brought back.

The old man says he doesn’t know anything more than Sam does. Samuel just remembers waking on a ridge. Cas does an “angel cavity search” and finds (Whoo-boy. Didn’t expect that.) Samuel DOES have his soul. Hmm. I figured if anyone was evil, it was him. And yet he says he knew there was something wrong with Sam, because at times his hunting abilities actually scared him.

The boys want to know what Samuel's up to now. He reluctantly admits he’s going out at dawn to hunt the alpha vampire. Sam is upset his grandfather didn’t call him. Dean quickly realizes they were left out because the senior Winchester doesn’t like Dean. Dean tells him he wants in on the hunt and he’ll be good and obedient. A minute later he tells Sam he doesn’t trust Samuel, he can feel he’s hiding something.

“If you weren’t RoboSam, you would too.” -- Dean

Dean goes snooping for answers and has a confrontation with Christian. The next morn, Dean is relegated to the back of the line with Gwen, where they’re attacked by a vamp. Gwen beheads the bloodsucker and Dean is sprayed with blood. Nastiness!

Dean hears a shot and tears off after the other team, not following the “stay here” directive he’d been given. Bodies litter the front yard of a house, shots and screams are heard. Dean looks up at a crow weather vane on the roof and flashes on the images he had when he was a vampire under the Alpha’s power. Then he sees a woman beg for help at a window before she’s yanked away.

Dean hears Samuel yelling so he follows the sound to the back of the house where baldy is shoving a hooded man into a van. It’s the guy with the long fingernails from Dean’s vision! Dean hurries back to Gwen so no one knows he saw anything. Samuel shows up and Dean questions him about what happened. Samuel lies. Dean gets in the Impala with Sam and asks if anything unusual happened. Sam lies! Fortunately, instead of merely stewing over his brother’s treachery, as he’s recently done a lot of, Dean pulls over, gets out of the car and tells Sam what he witnessed. Sam admits he didn’t want Dean to know Samuel’s capturing creatures for intel. Dean calls Sam out on his cluelessness. Surely, he must see Samuel is up to no good. Then Dean has an epiphany… Sam has no instincts. Losing his soul also cost him his gut feelings. Sam is blindly trusting Samuel just because of their blood relation. Dean tells him family may not be as important to Samuel as it is to them and he shouldn’t be trusted just because of their familial lines. He then tells Sam he can stick with him, but he has to follow what Dean says since he’s freakin’ clueless, or he can choose to go with Samuel and see how that goes.

Sam shows up at Samuel’s place. He tells his grandfather Dean is gone, that the two of them aren’t seeing eye-to-eye anymore. (I think he’s there at the behest of Dean.) Sam then tells his namesake he wants in, that he’ll help with the interrogations and everything. Samuel says no, because of his absentee soul. (Ha! I’m right.) Sam meets up with Dean and says Plan A didn’t work, but Plan B—which Dean didn’t know about—did. Sam enabled the GPS tracker on Samuel’s phone. They follow him and Christian to a vacant warehouse.

“He thinks Velcro is big news.” --Sam

Oy! The Alpha has bolts nailed through his hands and feet. How biblical. He’s also strapped to a chair with chains and hooked up to electricity. Samuel asks him “where is it?” When the creepy-cool vamp doesn’t answer,Samual sends volts of electricity to the bolts. The vamp laughs and blithely says, “Ow.” A frustrated Samuel leaves and the Alpha invites Sam and Dean out of hiding.

Oh my, they’re pumping the Alpha with dead man’s blood through an IV. He doesn’t look the least phased though and watching his fingernails saw away at his bonds makes me nervous. Even more nerve-wracking is that he knows Dean, since he was his child for a short time. He taunts Dean, wanting to know if he enjoyed it.

“I’m asking the questions here, Frightnight.” – Dean

Alpha tells them he’s happy to answer any questions they have because “soon I’ll be ankle deep in your blood, sucking the marrow from your bones. “ Yipe! Sam marvels over him being the first and wants to know who made him. The Alpha says,“we all have our mothers, even me.” Dean wants to know what’s with the big surge of vamps and Alpa tells him they’re going to war. Then he notices Sam smells cold, that he has no soul and he wants to know how it feels to be so empty. Sam says he wants to know why Samuel is interrogating the Alpha. The Alpha says when freaks like himself die they don’t go to either Heaven or Hell. Dean glibly suggests they go to Legoland, but Sam realizes he means purgatory. Turns out the mid-place is full of every soul, of every hungry thing that walked the Earth. The real question of the day is, “WHERE is purgatory?” The answer to that question is what they’re kind-hearted grandpa is trying to beat out of the Alpha. Sam asks why Samuel would care and Alpha says he doesn’t care, he merely does what he’s told. Dean asks whose hand is up Samuel’s ass when they hear someone behind them cock a gun. Damn! You know it’s the puppet himself.

Yup, Samuel and Christian take away Dean and Sam’s impressive arsenal. Dean accuses gramps of being really stupid, that whatever he’s doing, whatever he’s hiding, will put him and everyone around him in the ground. Samuel takes offense and charges Dean, who disarms him. Sam then gets a hold of Christian and just as Dean’s going for a gun, putting them back in power, Gwen shows up with a cocked gun in hand.

One of Samuel’s minions was left to watch the alpha. Mr. Brawn and No Brains approaches the cage, machete in hand and the alpha asks, “Are you scared of me. I would be.” In an effort to demonstrate his fearlessness the ill-fated guard pulls the switch on the electricity. As the juice goes through the alpha, he breaks his bonds and yanks out the IV. The guard turns to run, takes one of those trite horror movie trips I hate and notices the cage behind him is empty, as he leaps up to run out of the room he finds the alpha standing before him. The camera cuts to the Winchesters who hear an unholy scream. Dumb dude’s dead and the alpha is gone. Big surprise. Not.

Samuel wants to know how much dead blood they have left. Christian holds up two syringes. They’ve got an hour before the alpha will be back at 100%. Samuel wants him back in the cage, Dean wants him dead. They spread out to find the master vamp. Dean says if they make it through this the three Winchesters are going to have one helluva family meeting.

The two Sams are on a team with Christian. Just as they start to wonder if the alpha escaped, he shows up in a blink and breaks Christian’s neck (good riddance). Samuel puts a slug in Alpha before he’s thrown into a wall. Sam attacks the vamp with his machete, but he’s quickly disarmed. Alpha informs Sam he’s got big plans for him. A boy with no soul would make the perfect animal. Just as Alpha flashes fang, Christian (Holy Hell, he’s got black demon eyes!) jabs him in the neck with a syringe. Dean and Gwen walk in on the scene. There’s a flash of light and two more demons join Christian in holding the alpha. Another flash of light and they all four disappear. WTH? Then we hear weak applause offscreen and the camera pivots to Crowley. Samuel tells him to remove the demon he just stuffed into his nephew, but Crowley tells him he protects his investments and he had Christian possessed ages ago. Dean is stunned to learn they know each other and have some sort of business pact.

“You’re Crowley’s bitch.” –Sam

It seems Crowley wants Purgatory as a developer. “It’s vast, underutilized and Hell adjacent.” Crowley tells the boys they’re now his employees thanks to Gramps. He says Samuel knows things, more than any of them. The smug demon also admits he knew the boys misguided family loyalty would have them going froggy if Samuel said jump. Dean assures Crowley they have no loyalty to Samuel, but the King of Hell tells them they can’t pull out of their deal if they want Sam’s soul back. He can return the missing piece with the snap of his fingers. Turns out it was him that pulled Samuel out of Heaven and Sam out of Hell. (I did not see that coming!) And gramps knew all along. (Now that doesn’t surprise me. Bastard!)Big picture—Crowley wants the Winchesters to keep bringing him creatures or he’ll shove Sam back into Hell.

“Me Charlie, you angels.” – Crowley

Crowley bails and Gwen questions Samuel. He says he’ll take care of Crowley, in the meantime they hunt. Nothing’s changed. Sam tells him he’s not the man he thought he was. Samuel says he doesn’t know a thing about him. He’s certainly not apologetic or in any way trying to make good with the boys. He won’t even share his reasons for making the deal with Crowley and I think the boys deserve that much since he dragged them into his muck.

“What’d he offer you, girls, money, hair?” – Dean

Then he has the audacity to pull out the damn family card. They’re all he’s got, but as he sees it they’ve got two choices--put a bullet in their grandfather or step aside. Sam yanks his gun out and I’m inclined to let him shoot his namesake, but Dean stops him even though Samuel sold them out. Dean then lets gramps go. Why? And WHY didn’t Dean insist on answers? He’s certainly been hard-nosed about knowing something was wrong with Samuel and then, once he’s proven right, he does a whole lotta nothing.

Left alone, the brothers talk about how they don’t want to work for Crowley, but really don’t have a choice. So, for now, they’re gonna punch the demon’s timeclock until they can figure out how to get Sam’s soul back and take down the King of Hell. Good news is we’ll see more Crowley, bad news is we’ll see more gramps and we still have no clue why he’s sold them into slavery. Think maybe it has to do with daughter Mary? What’s your theory? As for the episode itself, it was jam-packed, but I didn't care for it much. Some great one-liners and I liked the Crowley reveal, but I'm missing the old spirit of the show. I want Sam's soul back ASAP, more Castiel, more classic rock and a little more levity please.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Six Degrees of Jared and Jensen

So there are 2 degrees of separation between Jared and me because one of the teachers in my grade level went to high school with him. I thought it might be fun to see if I could make connections between the boys and some celebrities. Some are six degrees, but most are less.

Nathan Fillion


Neil Patrick Harris

Bill Murray

Viggo Mortensen

Nicholas Cage

Tom Cruise

Jeff Goldblum

Gerard Butler

Let me know each step of the connection. Send your answers to me at mfechter @ gmail dot com and whoever gets the most correct will get a prize (probably a magnet from Cafe Press. Love those!) And be patient, please, I'm doing NaNoWriMo!

If you have more ideas, mention them in the comments!