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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. 39 Comments
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I found this episode wonderful and funny, and I do think that the current story line was addressed. Perhaps not as in depth as some would like, but it was still there. A few things I found particularly interesting; when Sam and Dean were discussing the Angel issue with fake Misha, he was able to give them valuable information from the script they were filiming and these events mirrored exactly the details of Sam and Dean's actual lives in their own reality. Even though Misha felt Sam and Dean were running lines with him, the information was still pertinent. Also, did anybody else notice that the Angel assasin Virgil was using a demonic blood phone? Significant? The only other people we've seen use this before has been Meg and other demons to communicate and now an Angel is using it? Hmmm, curious and maybe meaningful to the overall Raphael plot?
Yes, that was a clever way of merging the real plot with the AU world; I always find it interesting when shows or stories manage to do this without being overt. It was very subtle the way they did it.
Sorry, I had to break this up into several parts. Also, Sam and Dean are still feeling their way back to being brothers and this was another nice chance for them to reconnect. My favorite moment of the whole episode was Sam stating that he'd rather be Dean's brother in their sucky world than a douchbag actor in the AU that they were in, money, hot wife and all. I had a nice AWWWWW moment there. Plotwise we also know that the balance of power has shifted toward Castiel in the angel war and that he's not above using the brothers as bait, which I think is a nice shadow to RoboSam and his mercinary ways in previous episodes. And finally, Sylvia, you may appreciate this… when Virgil was shooting up the place and killing all the crew memebers, the one guy who was able to dodge all the bullets with ninja like agility was non other than Serge Ladoucer your most favoite lighting designer. I took it as a comment on his indespensible work on the show. He can't die, he's Serge.
Oh, that's so fun! I didn't know the Lighting Guy had a name and now I do! I suppose I could have looked it up, but it was more fun thinking of him in the abstract. But of course he'd know how to dodge a bullet, clever thing that he is! Thanks for pointing that out. : D
I liked the AWWW moment as well; Sam would rather have Dean in his life than anything else and he's willing to pay the price for it.
Shame you let your snidish dislike of Misha Collins sneak through. Just makes you look meanspirited. :/
How is it mean-spirited to express my opinion in a review, where the purpose of that review is to state my likes and dislikes about a show that I watch on a regular basis? I don't have to like every character or actor that comes across my screen, in fact it's my job to make a distinction between the two and then talk about why. That's what reviews are for.
I neither like nor dislike Mr. Collins, but I do think the tweeting (which I have somehow heard about) is ridiculous.
I loved the episode. I did not feel like they ran out of ideas. They did let us in on a few things. Castiel now has all the weapons and is much more powerful. I must confess, I was a little disappointed that you knew so little of the inside stuff. I guess I assumed, if you review, then you must research your subject and become fairly familiar. To not know that Jensen and Jared are very good friends seems wrong in your capacity of reviewer. I guess it's like an interviewer not knowing anything about their subjects background.
Meta eps are fun and once a season is perfect. Every show in this type of genre does something that is a shout out for their fans. It's light and doesn't really detract from the show. I had to explain a few things to my casual viewer husband and he got a big kick out of the winks and nods that were going on. He actually laughed out loud at one point. If you can get him to do that, your work is done.
I can't understand why you don't like Castiel. I too am a little tired of the nickname.. just not professional.
I do know that Ackles and Padalecki are good friends. The point I was trying to make (with my various examples) was that for the average viewer, a lot of the jokes needed you to know the punchline before you actually heard the punchline. And yes, meta eps are fun, but we've already done one (The Real Ghostbusters), plus I think this one was too meta-y for the average viewer.
If knowing about background information adds to your viewing pleasure, then more power to you. As for myself, I don't read a lot of interviews or behind-the-stage stuff for Show because I prefer to view each episode in context. I'd rather not know what's going on behind the scenes because that takes away from what's actually on the screen at any given moment. I want to be able to appraise the effort being made on its own merits, rather than on some inside knowledge that so-and-so had a cold that day.
I don't need to know about Ackles and Padalecki to write about Sam and Dean; because it's the characters I'm interested in. Yes, tidbits get through (like the fact that Jared married Genevieve, of which I was happy to hear), but those tidbits don't help me make sense of the Winchester's world.
For example, there's a Star Trek episode called "Devil in the Dark." During the filming of that ep, William Shatner's father passed away. I didn't know that information the first time I watched it, but when I watch it now, knowing what I know now, changes how I watch the episode, for good or for ill. I'd prefer not to have that effect going on when writing reviews for a show that's currently on the air. If I were reviewing, say, "Starsky and Hutch" or "Quantum Leap," then I think having that background information would be fun and, for me, more appropriate to use.
As for the Soap Angel, I'm sorry you don't like the nickname. The name "Castiel" will always sound to me like the word "castile" (a type of soap) is being spelled and said wrong. Besides I give a lot of characters on Show nicknames. And why? Because it makes it fun for me, so I'm going to keep using those nicknames until Show has finished its run.
Sylvia, by all means, keep doing your reviews exactly the you you do. Trust me, you have many fans. Speaking for myself, I never leave for wotk on Tuesdays without taking a look at your take on the last episode, and it's always worth it. We don't always have the same POV about an episode, but I always have fun reading your thoughts. So please, never stop.
Sorry, I mean the "way you do".
Hey, if my posts were completely without error, you'd know right then an there that this was an alternate universe.
Thank you kindly. We don't always share the same pov, but that's what makes it interesting to share ideas.
Sylvia
1). The scene where Jensen and Jared were acting or let's just say 'trying to act' about did me in! That was such a absurdly comical scene I about choked on my glass of water. I was crying I was laughing so hard.
Jared and Jensen really are gifted comedians.
2). The massive photo of Jared behind Jared was pure genius!
3). Jared's enormous house
4). Jensen's reaction when he saw all of the Impala's
5). Jensen on 'Days of Our Lives'. He was a babe back then but I much prefer his mature rugged good looks over his sweet baby face from years past.
6). Misha 'tweeting'
7). The guy who played 'Robert Singer' was great casting. He has been in a lot of things and he is funny.
I especially loved how he delivered his lines and the inflection in his voice.
9) Finally I loved Sam's brother's comment as well
You know, even though this season has been uneven at best….some crappy episodes and some brilliant episodes and other episodes that feel somewhere in between, the one thing I can ALWAYS count on is Jared and Jensen. They are the glue that keeps this show together and they are the reason I continue to watch this show until the final show airs.
Take care
Joan
It's just not Tuesday without your brilliant impressions handed over to my mind in such a smooth and endearing way.