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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. 155 Comments
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[...] can read my review of the Supernatural episode “On the Head of a Pin” at pinkraygun.com Thank [...]
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[...] surprise, the number of posts over at Pink Raygun, following my most recent ep review of “On the Head of a Pin.” While I’m not going to take credit for the discussion that has taken off on its own, [...]
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When is the show going to wake up and realize what they are wasting here?
That Sylvia is a question alot of people are asking.
No kidding! Show can say it's saving Sam for something special, for something good. But like I keep telling my mom about the guest towels and the fine china and silverware, "Now is good. Now is all we have"
Best Regards,
Sylvia
Great review! I'm seriously missing Sam this season. Hoping to get some insight in that pretty head of his soon!
Hey thanks! And me too. There's just not enough Sam in the world as it is, so why oh why? It can only mean that they have something dire in store, but I will always be a Samgirl, always!
Best Regards,
Sylvia
Sylvia, another wonderful review, as always.
Well, you know you're preaching to the choir with me and the Guest Towel Sam issue. I've been complaining about that since…In the Beginning? Something like that. With so few episodes left in the season, I've pretty much resigned myself to watching the Dean show if I want to keep watching at all. That's where the Jared thing I've mentioned before comes into play. If I've suffered the Olsen twins and Paris Hilton (though thankfully, not together) for him, I guess I can put up with the Dean and Angels Power Hour (now with 976% more angels!).
That said, I actually liked this one. Maybe it was the drugs I was taking for my back injury, but I enjoyed it. I saw glimmers and glints of Dean, the Dean that I've always loved, broken and battered as he is now. I actually *gasp* cared about Castiel! I'm not positive, but I suspect that is another broken seal. Oops. Did I do that? There was entirely too much action on screen that did not involve either Winchester, and Anna still gets on my last nerve. Didn't see Uriel's betrayal coming though, so that was cool. It also makes me wonder what that means for Sam. If Uriel was the one who was so adamant that Sam could not use his powers, and if Castiel's orders may have been muddled all along, then who's to say that Sam's powers can only be evil? If they come from demon blood (be it Azazel's or Ruby's), then they can't be good. But maybe they're not as black and white as we thought? I'm so confused.
I love how confident and commanding Sam has become lately, the way he strides into situations and handles them. Then again, I love Sam, so that's hardly a surprise. The thing with Ruby, and the blood, was disgusting, and I hated every second of it. But the way that he seemed so desperate for it, like an addict jonesing for a hit, the relief that showed on his face when she told him he could have it and the sinister smirk on her face when she gave it to him, give me a flicker of hope. If he's addicted (and he may not even know that he is), then the addiction can be broken, hopefully, and perhaps he can be saved. *eyes Kripke* He'd better be saved in the end.
The torture scenes. Mad props to Christopher Heyerdahl and Jensen. They totally sold that whole scenario to me. I actually laughed out loud when Alastair said "There's something caught in my throat. I think it's my throat." Sick, but funny. And Jensen was at turns terrifying, and heart breaking. The way he can let emotions play across his face never ceases to amaze me. The way Dean's eyes widen as Alastair broke the news about the seal, the sheer panic that was rising in his face when he had his back turned. Unbelievable.
But here we come to another rub, for me at least. Alastair and Ruby are each possessing a body, no? When Sam made the (very wrong, poorly thought out and awful) choice to sleep with Ruby, fandom didn't even wait for the episode to air before they were condemning him. Calling him a rapist, a necrophiliac, pretty much every nasty name in the book. Some people even made the choice (which was just as badly made as Sam's) to confront Jared with the issue. I didn't like it, didn't approve of it, and I still don't. But at least Sam asked about the body. He knew there was no innocent person trapped in there. Doesn't make it right, but at least he asked. Dean never even asked about the body Alastair was possessing. That man could have been trapped in there, suffering right along with Alastair. Sure, the holy lightning from last week probably killed him, but we don't know that for sure because Dean didn't ask. And no one seems to care. If that man was alive, Dean tortured him mercilessly, yet no one even cares. I don't see people screaming about how Dean could have gotten work during the Inquisition, or how he's clearly going evil. Hypocrisy at its finest I suppose. But the whole "Saint Dean can do no wrong, and his evil worthless brother can do no right" thing is grating something fierce.
Again, wonderful job Sylvia. And I apologize for my wordiness.
Jen
Sylvia I just wanted to add you make me laugh everytime you call them soap angels .I have this vision of little pieces of robe coming out of the top of their heads.
Jen great post and yes the good old double standard comes into play with the boys sadly .
I think we're going to be seeing more of Sam now that the demon blood thing has been revealed. I have a feeling they wanted to go for the big shock and not give us an opportunity to see the addiction in the early stages so were limited in what they could do with Sam. Much more dramatic to have a full-blown addiction that needs to be addressed. My son a former addict commented on how far gone in the addiction Sam was.
To me it means they could have only had Sam development scenes where he talked to Ruby at end about not wanting to do it again or scenes where he expels another low level demon. I think it would have become dull and repetitive and the complaints heard about Dean's emo confessions would have been heard about Sam going on to his demon sidekick about not wanting to do it again. In fact, considering how so many fans feel this year's Ruby drags down a scene, I'm sure there would have been complaints.
TBC in additional post
I am still too mentally ‘spent’ to rehash the episode from last week.
Seriously, this show is killing me! I am still in a corner, rocking back and forth.
I don’t have the strength to write a lot. But, here are a few things to ponder.
1). Sammy….OMG Sammy! I literally screamed at the TV set. Thank you for saving your brother and for being at your brother's side at the hospital but seriously, I am so scared for you. Why oh why must you fall under Ruby’s spell?
2). I will miss Alistair. He was pure evil but his character was riveting.
3). Dean…OMG Dean! You know, just when I think it isn’t possible for Dean’s self-worth to sink any lower…’SHOW’ throws yet another curve ball and cuts Dean off at the knees. I have to admit, I never saw that reveal coming.
I hope the folks who hand out Emmys watched last week’s show. Jensen Ackles
owned every scene he was in. The torture scene alone was worthy of Emmy consideration, but the final scene, where Castiel confirmed what Alistair said, earned
Jensen that statue. At the end, when he said “I guess I am not the man either one of our father’s wanted me to be”, absolutely destroyed me. That statement was the most heartbreaking thing I have ever heard. The way he said it, the way his voice quivered, the way his voice cracked, the way he almost chocked on the words. I don’t think I can put my heart back together again.
I am too upset to write anymore. Normally I would write a book, because there is so much to pick apart and ponder and mull over but this is the best I could do.
Sylvia, as always, this was an awesome review!
Take care Joan
Part 2
Instead each and every Sam scene has had a purpose and we've learned from them. We may not know much about what is going on in Sam's head right now. But I'm not sure Sam really knows what's going on in his head. He seems a bit over the place and I'm sure part of that is the effects of the addiction, withdrawal, etc.
Also I think they showed us less Sam to emphasize his growing distance but not to highlight it with actual examples. I think as he drinks the demon blood it's having negative impact on his ability to relate to others. Again if they show it in too much detail we would have had a better idea that something dramatic was taking place to cause such notable changes in Sam. If every episode they had to show that progression the shock of last week's lying scene with Cole would have been lost. The impact the joy we saw at him being able to kill Alastair rather than exorcise demons would have lost. We would have known from other Sam scenes with lessor demons that his power was growing.
on to Part 3
Part 3
So we may bemoan less Sam but boy did it give us some really powerful memorable Sam scenes. The scene with Cole last week, his reaction to Pamela at the end, and the scenes this week were fantastic and I feel they were that good because of the decision to not let the viewers in on the growth of Sam's powers and the addiction that's fueling that growth.