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Article by Sylvia Bond
Sylvia Bond is a ten-year technical writing veteran with too many degrees under her belt to count. She lives in Colorado, but does not ski, preferring instead to spend her money and time at the annual Great American Beer Festival, taking road trips across the United States, and reading historical fiction from the comfort of her fluffy green arm chair. She has been involved in fandom since 1993 and been writing fanfic since approximately 1993. What she finds most amazing about fandom (besides the open heartedness of fans and the sheer amount of creativity) is how visible fandom has become. "In my day," she says, "we had to hide behind P.O. boxes to get fanfic. But nowadays, people wear t-shirts that shout their affiliation and share their shiny toys on the internet." It's a wonderful world. 96 Comments
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[...] can read my review of the Supernatural episode “Heaven and Hell” at pinkraygun.com. Thank [...]
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I'm with you on the angels as far as this show is concerned. Castiel I can accept, soap and all, but Uriel? For an emotionless being, the man is a thug full of anger and hate. He got waaay too much pleasure beating on Dean. Sam, now – I loved his backing away from Castiel. Maybe not just because of the 'Don't make me use my powers' thing, but also the 'OMG, should I hit an angel??' deal.
The last scene… Dean's reveal. I've had the feelling for a longtime that what happened in Hell would be terrible, and along the lines of what he did rather than what was done to him. Someone like Dean, whose raison d'etre has always been 'saving people, hunting things', forced to choose to do harm. I was proud of Show for goimng that route. At first I so wanted Sam to hug him, but then I thought it through. One gesture of love, compassion, empathy, frfom Sam and Dean would have lost it. Shattered completely. And afterward he would NEVER have forgiven Sam for causing the breakdown, and Sam knew it. Dean needs to be in control – especially after what happened in Hell.
Hi Sylvia,
I found this episode a huge letdown after last week's. I don't mind the angel-demon arc story but I find it has been badly done and I keep waiting for something good to evolve. So far … boring. The angel-demon fight at the end was laughable and I was so disappointed that Castiel was taken down so easily and quickly by Alistair … it made Castiel look like a wuss. Seems to me that a showdown between these two powerful forces should have been a helluva lot more exciting. And the whole Anna losing her grace … well, let's just say I was laughing a lot this episode.
As for the love scene, sorry but the only part I liked was seeing Dean's beautiful back. And I was SO looking forward to it. I found they had no chemistry at all together. I watched it a few times to see if I could feel different about it but nope, it felt so flat. And the Titanic shout-out was the final straw that killed it for me. I laughed and laughed.
My favourite parts of this episode was Pamela smacking Sam's butt and their whole funny interaction. I don't think that Pam was ignoring Dean. He had gone to pick her up and drive her there, so I'm sure she had her "fun" with him in the car. Hee!
I also loved the way they cut from the Dean/Anna love scene to Sam sleeping and Ruby watching him sleep. The closeness of the previous scene and the distance in the latter. It had kind of an unrequited love feel to it.
My favorite line was Ruby saying to Sam, "Kinda buff for a nerd" to because ain't it the TRUTH!
And lastly, for the shallow … yes Sam's hair was not as pretty like the last few episodes but he did look especially yummy in the scene where he is sitting next to Pam when Anna is explaining hoe she lost her grace. That brown shirt does something to me! And also as you mentioned his research scene with Ruby. YUMMMY!
Will you be continuing your reviews of Season 2? I need something to look feed my Show craving during the hiatus. Please say yes.
Take care,
Tonia
No worries, okay? We'll leave the light on for you.
Another lovely review Sylvia. And yet another long winded reply from me. I apologize, again.
My initial reaction to this one was very mixed. There were things I liked, like Sam's bits about Dean confusing porn with reality, and bits I hated, like every single time Mary Sue, I mean Anna, opened her mouth.
When Show introduced the character of Castiel, and who/what he was, my first reaction was that it was awesome. Then they brought Uriel in and it was more like "another holy flapper? well, if we must." But then he was so different from Castiel, and so acidic and almost hateful that I had to love to hate him. When Mary Sue, dammit, Anna sat up on that cot and looked all meaningful, I got a sudden chill and thought to myself "Surely not, they won't go there will they?" Not only did they go there, they went above and beyond, making her not only another angel, but an angel that outranks the angels they've already given us. Is this fanfic or Show? I couldn't tell there for a while.
Don't EVEN get me started on the whole issue of Dean basically ignoring Sam as he lay on the floor unconscious, and then in obvious discomfort. Clearly I stumbled into some alternate reality of Show, where Ruby and Anne Shirley are more important than Dean's baby brother. In my mind Dean's behaviour in that instance called for much splashing of holy water and tossing around of appropriate Latin words, because the Dean Winchester we've known for three and a half seasons wouldn't do that, ever, so he is clearly under supernatural influence. Again, fanfic? Or Show?
Dear Kripke, if you simply MUST borrow ideas for canon from fanfic, please to be culling from the good stuff at least. Sincerely, Annoyed Fangirl.
The sex scene, to me, wasn't that great. Ackles is indeed beautiful, and the glimpses of his back were hot, very hot. I think though that my distaste for Anna bled over into my impression of that scene. I was also, highly, highly distracted with trying to figure out how much of Dean's body was hanging out the door when he was on top, and how on earth he fit himself into the when he switched positions with her. Dean may not be the giant that Sam is, but he is by no means a small man, and the logistics of the chosen location for that interlude distracted me something awful. The hand in the window at the end was, in a word, horrifying. I actually groaned out loud when it happened.
I did love the fact that Bobby wasn't home when they went there, though I could have lived without the mental image of him that Dean so thoughtfully provided, and I love your take on how Sam and Dean each reacted to the issue of consulting Bobby. I have to admit that I also loved watching Ruby glower from outside the safe room. Seeing Pamela come back was nice, and her interaction with Sam made me giggle, particularly the way he stammered when she caught him checking her out.
Please don't apologize – I love hearing what other people think about Show!
I haven't been reading any angel fanfic, but I agree with you that the angels are now outnumbering the boys, and it's just too much for me to handle. And that she outranks both Uriel and the Soap Angel? If that's true, how come she's never looked upon the face of the Almighty, considering that Uriel is considered one of God's right hand angels?
But I totally agree with you, the hypnotizing scene went on far too long. So did the scene where Anna was explaining her fall and her grace and all such things. I might have been able to tolerate it better if the actress playing Anna was better at selling it, but that's doubtful. I did enjoy watching Sam figure it all out, where the grace fell and how they might find it. I am pretending Ruby's torture scene never happened, and no one can make me change my mind.
The return of guest towel Sam did nothing to endear this episode to me. Bad enough it took them eight episodes to deign to show us some of what Sam went through, something that surely ranked in importance above shapeshifters with a taste for black and white films, and giant teddy bears commiting suicide. Now just one week later we're back to sidekick Sam, the ever lovely guest towels. On top of finally getting confirmation from Jensen that Jared was indeed in Hawaii while they filmed In the Beginning, and not doing reshoots as fandom had insisted he was in order to justify his abscence from that episode….well, Show is scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to my patience.
Please start. I've actually heard no other fannish rumblings about that particular faux pas, which surprises me. It's SO out of character! It might not be as bad had the person Dean helped up first NOT been the DEMON who has been LEADING SAM ASTRAY!!! Sorry. Did I just shout there? But it was Ruby, and thusly Dean would have left her there to rot forever before he'd lift a finger to help her. Esp not before helping Sam. Sheesh.
Even bad fanfic knows better than that.
Dean's confession at the end broke me. I was crying right along with him. Ackles sold that to me hook, line and sinker. I am in awe of how truly talented actors can tear themselves apart for the sake of their character, and show us the tiny pieces. I don't know how they put themselves back together at the end of the day, but I do know they deserve far more credit for it than they usually get for doing it. I really, really wish that Show would quit relying so heavily on the shiny sparkly goodness of Ackles acting and allow Sam/Jared more chances to shine. Jensen's amazing, unbelievable, talented beyond comprehension and of course, gorgeous. We know this. Now let's see what someone else is capable of. I enjoyed watching Sam's face as Dean broke down beside him. He was clearly fighting tears, genuinely torn apart by what his brother was saying. I think this was the scene that Jared mentioned in an interview, talking about how the camera wasn't even on him, he wasn't the focus, but the performance that Jensen was giving was tearing him up, making him cry. That ending was painful, but awesome. But even that couldn't make up for the rest of the episode.