oselle | SPN 6:01: Exile on Main Street

The only reason I'm even bothering to post a review is because I'm still high off the four beers and five cigs I had while watching that episode.

Without further ado:

1. It was smart to keep Lisa and Ben's presence to a minimum, and to not hammer us over the head with Dean's domesticity. Truth be told, Dean seems to be an awkward fit with suburban life which is exactly what he should be. Despite Lisa's assertion that this was "the best year of her life" we can at least tell it was and continues to be tough going for them. I'm discomfited by Dean telling Sam that he basically pushed Dean into that life...i.e., that he wouldn't have chosen it for himself. It makes Lisa and Ben look like the consolation prize and I don't like that. That's why I'll continue to insist that Dean's "settling down" should only have come at the END of the series so that we'd never have to deal with the consequences of it. Now we've got this big mess with the very likable Lisa and her twelve-year-old son...and this guy who -- by his own admission -- is only with them because he made a deathbed promise to his brother.

2. The promos were pushing a "TRUST NO ONE" tagline and I don't know if that means we're supposed to be wary of Sam and all those Campbells. Are they not who they claim to be?

3. Speaking of all those Campbells...too many Campbells. Based on what I heard from ComicCon, I thought the various and sundry Campbell relatives would be rolled out over the season...HAHAHAHA I should know better than to expect anything approaching subtlety. No, instead we get FOUR of them in the premiere, including Gramps, who apparently has been "brought down" from heaven (?) to chaperone Sam and OH MY GOD doesn't anyone besides me remember that all of Mary's relatives were supposed to be dead? And OH MY GOD are we honestly supposed to believe that these Campbells who, apparently, are to hunting what the Kennedys are to politics, WOULD NOT HAVE LOOKED OUT FOR MARY CAMPBELL'S SONS AFTER SHE DIED? That for the past THIRTY YEARS they have been unaware of the existence of Sam and Dean Campbell-Winchester? Please. I DEFY you to fucking fanwank that shit.

4. BOY, Sera Gamble is sure in love with that Mayflower business, isn't she? I'm seeing a Very Special Thanksgiving episode in full period costume.

5. Speaking of Sera Gamble...bringing back the djinns from Raelle Tucker's great "What Is And Never Should Be" final episode does not make Sera Gamble into Raelle Tucker. Frankly, bringing back the djinns made no sense at all and was one of the klutziest plot bridges I ever saw. So what, they've been hanging around for four fucking years waiting to get revenge on Dean?

6. I'm giving Sam a temporary pass on his behavior because I don't know if Sam is really Sam or if Sam was so fucked up by hell that he's all dead inside or what. But there's simply no excuse for Bobby at all. Oh right, Dean's having such a wonderful life in suburbia that HE WOULDN'T WANT TO KNOW HIS BROTHER WAS ALIVE. Mmmhmm.

7. How did Dean even manage to find a manufacturing job in this economy?

8. Jensen clearly put on weight and should not be wearing his shirt tucked into his jeans. Hey, someone had to say it.

9. If Sam Adams Oktoberfest Ale is in the supermarket it shouldn't be ninety fuckin degrees out.

10. Whatever.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I wrote more about this on my lj, but I felt like this ep was really trying to establish a new status quo without dealing with a lot of the stuff it set out. Tbh, it seems like a lot of people agree that the first 10 minutes was the best. Dean the awkward fit in suburbia was a lot more interesting as a hunter than the pack of hunters who showed up!

Well, I'm bummed that you deleted your post. I would have liked to read it.

I totally agree that the episode is trying to establish a new status quo...trying to hit a reset button in a way. And I think the reason people (including myself) liked those first ten minutes was because there was a real poignancy to them. First of all, I'm a flashback sucker so I liked the montage of Dean's new life compared to scenes of his old one (Salt can be used for cooking! Who knew!) I also felt that you could tell that in spite of appearances, Dean was still working very hard to make this new life work, to leave the past behind. That's why it was so chilling when he started seeing creepy things in broad daylight -- not only were the signs spooky in themselves, but you had the sense that Dean's old life was catching up with him. You felt for the guy, the way you'd feel for anyone who's trying to make a fresh start in his life but can't.

So yeah, that was all good but then it just went off the rails as soon as Sam and all those Campbells showed up. And to make a djinn the catalyst for Sam and Dean's reunion...I don't know, I just thought that was so lazy. I know they want to get back to the MoTW structure but recycling a monster from four years ago hardly seemed like a clever or thoughtful way to do it. And I'm not even going to touch on why the Campbells all seemed like such assholes, or how cruel it was for both Sam and Bobby to keep Dean in the dark about Sam, or how we're supposed to embrace Lisa's character and place in Dean's life while also accepting that Lisa would never have been part of Dean's plans if Sam hadn't died, thereby negating all the fabricated insta-drama about how Lisa is Dean's ultimate happily-ever-after fantasy...naw, I'm not gonna touch on any of that.

I didn't realize so many people had already read it, so I may put it back up as an edit to the new post. So if you're interested, feel free to read it now.

The early stuff in the ep was interested--I think you really hit it that things were really interesting when we had this guy trying to get used to his new life that had things he liked but ways that he wasn't never going to completely fit in. But then to get hit with all these PEOPLE that would have been annoying even in a regular MOTW and a fairly lame MOTW...that was the other thing. The MOTW didn't seem important enough to make Sam suddenly decide to chuck out his whole plan to lie to Dean. I honestly felt like he might as well have just said that he was showing up now because the hiatus was over.

The MOTW didn't seem important enough to make Sam suddenly decide to chuck out his whole plan to lie to Dean.

Exactly. Especially when we're supposed to believe that Sam is a totally kickass hunter who's now teamed up with the legendary bluebloods of the hunting world -- you'd think a powerhouse combo like that would have been able to take out three lousy djinns without Dean ever even knowing it. I would have been a lot more on board with Sam watching over Dean-and-family in secret...and then only revealing his existence to Dean over something really big, not really bzuh?

Yes, exactly! That was so weird. They should have been able to protect him and give him the antidote without Sam having to reveal himself. I would have liked to see a slower build-up to the reunion. This way it was like "OK, I tricked you into this life, it was nice to see you could deal, but now I'm bored with my close-mouthed cousins, so please just forget your commitments, I know you want to."

please just forget your commitments, I know you want to

This also made no sense. Earlier, San told Dean that he'd kept his existence a secret because he knew Dean would have "run" (from Lisa and Ben) if he knew Sam were alive. We get the impression that Sam didn't want this for Dean. But then by the end of the episode, Sam seems confounded that Dean chooses Lisa and Ben over him. Shouldn't he be relieved? Isn't that what he wanted Dean to do? What? WHAT?

Sorry to be blunt but to me that's typical Sam. He always knows what's best and Dean needs to fall in line or Sam will run off and find someone who's not so "bossy." Yeah, I think I'm still bitter about season 5. :(

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm hearing other people say -- whatever Sam thinks is best for him at any given moment is what he thinks is the best course of action, period. And I'm sorry but there are times that Jared's acting seems to be the problem because so often I don't know what he's trying to convey. Like almost every time last season when he was supposed to be showing remorse, he just came across as a sulky kid who'd gotten caught doing something bad and was forced to apologize. I find it so hard to believe the writers and producers aren't seeing that.

Maybe the writers do see that and that's why they overcompensate so hard but in exactly the wrong ways. I dunno. I don't get this show at all anymore. They should have just walked away at the end of season 5 or better yet, season 4.

Scratch that. 504 should have been the series finale and then I could have imagined something like your post-504 verse. Way better than the crap that we're getting now.

As we were edging towards the season 5 finale, I swear...I was just dumb enough to think they were going to stun all of us and go full-blown apocalypse with Season 6. They were totally setting us up for it -- the virus was being unleashed, Dean had irrevocably said no to Michael and Sam had every intention of going to Detroit to say yes to Lucifer.

"The End" was a gift that could have kept on giving. Jared could have finally gotten to play Evil!Sam, not Evil?Sam. Castiel could have stayed in the show for a reason. Bobby would have been killed off and Dean could have worn a glorious THIGH HOLSTER all season while kicking ass every single week. Alas, they refused to take a chance on doing something that daring, in fact, I'm sure it never even crossed their minds. Instead, Kripke went full speed ahead with HIS series finale, and damn Season 6 and everything that might come after it. Seriously, the mind boggles.

SPN 6:01: Exile on Main Street

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject