Preview and Episode Discussion – “Live Free or Twi-Hard” (6.05)
We’re trying something new this week. Sablegreen has been running spoiler recaps on the Spoilers Page for the upcoming episode, so we figured it would be great if we moved them to the discussion article and opened it up for both spoiler speculation and episode discussion. It’s something we’re going to do every Thursday. Up first, this week’s Vampire spoof, “Live Free and Twi-Hard” (Episode 6.05).
In this episode the boys fight vampires who actually come out during the day. In case you’re not already aware, Dean is going to turn into a vampire and become a big threat to everyone, including Ben and Lisa. Jensen said in his Q&A at the Chicago con that this was a hilarious episode (sans ‘glitter’), however, some of the previews have been more on the serious side….but a healthy balance of comedy and drama is always welcome. It’s certainly not something the show hasn’t pulled off before, and very successfully I might add. (For me, I’m hoping it’s heavier on the comic side. still basking in the warmth of “Weekend at Bobby’s.”” :-))
Sam and Dean encounter a band of blood-suckers modeling themselves on Edward Cullen and co. The fun comes to an abrupt end when Dean is attacked and transformed into a vampire. The episode will take shots at a lot of popular vampire groups, including those who sparkle, and in an interview with Executive Producer Sera Gamble talked about spoofing these vampires.
“I don’t think there’s currently a [Vampire Diaries] mention in the episode.” She continues, “But part of the thing is finding a balance between, say, [showing] a poster from the actual show and having Sam and Dean really speak their minds. We don’t want to offend.”
Besides, Gamble insists that mockery is the sincerest form of flattery. “I think The Vampire Diaries is a really good show,” she insists. “And I’ve seen all the Twilight movies. I’m certainly not coming at this from a place of feeling superior to them. I have great respect.”
The official synopsis: After a group of young girls go missing; Sam and Dean realize that a group of vampires have taken up residence in the small town. After a fight with two of the blood-suckers, Dean is bitten and turns into a vampire… Samuel (guest star Mitch Pileggi) tells Dean he can change him back but he’ll have to get the blood of the vampire who turned him. Dean infiltrates the nest and runs into the Alpha.
Directed by Jan Eliasburg, it was written by Brett Matthews. A little trivia about Brent Matthews: he co-wrote the comic miniseries “Those Left Behind”, which bridged the gap between the TV series, Firefly, and its feature film follow up, Serenity, some of the greatest SYFY adventures ever.
The supporting cast (IMDB) includes (in credits order):
Jared Padalecki – Sam Winchester
Jensen Ackles – Dean Winchester
Cindy Sampson – Lisa Braeden
Mitch Pileggi – Samuel Campbell
Elise Gatien – Kirsten Gregory Fawcett
Kristen’s Father Chad – Cole Driver
Julia Rhodes – Vampire Girl
For photo stills of the episode, click here. Preview clips can be found on WFB here.
Canada’s Space channel has released another trailer and preview clip, which features many new scenes as well as lead-in scenes from the other clips already posted. For those clips, click here, and here.
So, looks like we have another AWESOME episode on the horizon. Question is how much ‘awesome’ can they pack in 42 mins? Lots I hope!!!
Happy viewing everyone! Make sure to come back here after the episode has aired and tell us what you think!
OOOO! This is a fun idea!
I agree that some of the previews so far have seemed a lot more serious than what the interviews have led us to believe. I’m straddling the fence right now. Having an inkling of what’s coming next week, my vote is for a very humorous storyline this week. The jokes to be made are endless. 🙂 That being said, I have a slight wish to see it get real serious when it comes to Lisa & Ben’s safety. I’m just really wanting for Ben to pull a gun out of Dean’s bag and be forced to protect his family. I think Ben makes such an awesome mini-Dean and the writers have already foreshadowed IMO that Ben wants in.
Also I’m looking forward to the freak tables being turned on Dean. With the exception of DALDOM, we’ve never seen a ‘monster’ Dean. It’d be nice for Sammy to be able to shake his head and say ‘it’s not so much fun being the freak, huh?’
Just a small comment – and perhaps not directly on point.
What I do hope to see in this episode is more naked (figuratively speaking) emotion from either Sam or Dean, preferably both.
While Season 6 has been stellar so far, I find that both Sam and Dean were very muted in their emotions. It’s all fine to be subtle and avoid over dramatization, but I do hope to see some flashes of emotion from the 2 leads – maybe not on the scale of “In My Time of Dying”, but surely a flash akin to (say) “Houses of the Holy” would be welcomed.
Seperately, I wonder whether the “noir” look of Season 6 has something to do with the “muted” emotional protrayal.
My impression is that most “noir” films are stylish – and muted in emotional protrayal (you won’t usually find a man crying his eyes out, like in “Heart”, in a noir film :P).
Anyway, I’m looking forward to something different in this episode, at least in terms of emotional protrayal – I would personally welcome a little less subtlety. 🙂
For ease of reference – see Ardeospina’s excellent visual review of “The Third Man” and her comments on the noir look of the episode – https://www.thewinchesterfamilybusiness.com/article-list/category5/12249-qthe-third-manq-a-visual-review.html
I don’t think the series so far has lacked emotion. Sera Gamble has repeatedly said that the boys will be hunters but will still have the ‘strong personally tragedies’. That will always involve emotion. If you mean the lack of emotional interchanges between Dean and Sam, i.e. Dean just accepting Sam’s dissing him for a year, that is the writers working their way through a new story arc and spanning over different episodes. But I don’t think it was because of any ‘noir’ connotation. It just didn’t fit in to the writers approach to s6 yet.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Good episode. How sad Sam is so bad. Poor Dean, but he makes a HOT vamp. I really wish the boys were brothers again. This Dean and Sam are very uncomfortable to me.
Oh boy – vampire Dean slamming Lisa up against a wall – what I wouldn’t give to be her!
Great episode! Now we know something is really wrong with Sam. Dean – so strong and cool – even as a vamp. Willing to be killed right away. Taking out the whole nest on his own – on an empty stomach yet!
I honestly don’t know what to say. That entire episode, the direction, it’s left me stunned. I was on the edge of my seat, engrossed the entire hour. However, watching Sam smirk as Dean was turned into a vamp? That pretty much jarred me into a stupor from which I cannot recover. Wow!
The first thing I said to my husband was “How am I going to review and recap that?!” I honestly think I’m taking the week off. So much to process, so much out of the usual formula. However, it wasn’t a bad episode by any means. It was actually quite great and out of the box. So not this show, but sometimes you have to dare to be different.
My heart is crushed for Dean. So crushed. I’m waiting for him to beat the living crap out of Sam next week.
On the plus side, it’s the first glimpse that Samuel isn’t evil! Even he was alarmed by Sam. I feel better about that. If this is Sam PTSDing, it’s time to Dean and Castiel to deliver him back to Heaven. The boy is dead to us. I just can’t defend him anymore.
Speaking of Castiel, he’s back next week! That makes me very happy.
Samuel was a plus for sure. Dean really needs to beat some sense into Sam! Really I don’t think they can come up with a good enough explanation for Sam’s action to ever justify it. Letting Dean get turned and smirking about it! Sad…very sad…I just hate brothers hurting each other!
So, that kind of kicked some ass! Alice, I totally agree with everything you said. This was different, or started out similarly and once the funny stuff stopped, man, it was intense. It was great to see Dean kicking some ass again, taking out that whole nest. I wish we could have seen his fight with Boris, but the foot-on-the-head reveal was beyond cool.
And can I just say that the montage of the psychic alpha vampire stuff was so insanely cool? Because it so, so was. And super creepy!
So looking forward to next week. In vino veritas, or so they say. I wish someone was getting drunk! Instead, epic man pain and a beat down. And Cass! Yay.
I think I just had my heart crushed! I kept hoping Sam was Sam, but I really don’t think so anymore. I’m kind of hoping he doesn’t have a soul or he’s Lucifer or something so I can actually forgive him. 🙁
Theory 1: Sam knew about the cure and figured he could off the vampire and figured it was as good a chance as any to send someone into a nest 21 Jump Street style and find out what’s up with the vampires.
Theory 2: Because Sam is just going through the motions post-being-brought-back-from-Hell – he doesn’t feel the pull to truly care and protect anyone, even his brother, like he did before.
These theories are not mutually exclusive. A complete lack of a moral compass, the inability to use compassion to make decisions – would strongly influence every choice he makes, including forming a strategy that involves putting his brother at risk.
That said, this is the first time I’ll be fully behind Dean punching Sam in the face.
Whoa! Good thing we had the humor of last week, ‘cuz this one certainly wasn’t funny. Just when we’d seen Sam act a little more like a brother with the kidding & banter of the last few episodes, he turns around & pulls this! WTF! Sammy, where are you!? I’m very worried about Dean’s relationship with Lisa & Ben, too. I hope this is not how the show plans to remove them from his life. That’s just too harsh. It was nice to see that Grandpa is not as bad as I’d feared, although I still don’t trust him. But Vampire!Dean…very hot!!
Up until this episode, I didn’t see all that strong a “noir” vibe going on, but it was very present tonight–in every aspect of the episode from the sets to the lighting to the acting and so on. And like true noir, it was both disturbing and darkly fascinating to watch. That half-smile on Sam’s face as Dean was being turned. Dean’s vision (creepy little girl vampires!). The decor of the nest, complete with rather stunningly beautiful stained glass ceiling–and Dean, having beheaded most of the denizens, sitting there with his foot on Boris’s head. This one was a stunner all right. I’m impressed, and a little freaked out. It will bear repeated watching for nuance, although some of those images I mentioned above won’t be leaving my mind anytime soon anyway.
Well, I kinda got my wish, right? Funny and Really F’n serious. I’m in utter shock over Sam’s behavior. Not sure why. It’s not like we didn’t see this coming. But for him to stop cold and watch his brother being turned w/ some sadistic curiosity plastered over his face. Eww, CREE-PY. I didn’t get my Ben w/ a gun and I’m really praying this isn’t the last time we see Lisa & Ben. I mean, I know it’s not, but all that’s left is the break-up and I don’t wanna see that.
But hell ya Dean was kick ass as a vamp. If I wouldn’t have sounded like a teenage glittery vamp-queen, I would have squealed in delight.
Can’t wait for next week!
I too sat on the edge of my seat through this whole episode. And through it all I was wondering what the hell am I watching?
Right now I’m too heartbroken to give this episode a fair analysis.
That is NOT Sammy! It’s either Lucifer riding him or another demon, either way that was not Sam. At this moment I can’t accept any other explanation.
After two years of watching the brother’s relationship deteriorate and then to see the return of there love and devotion in Swan Song. Just to have it all tossed back into the garbage again. I don’t think I have the strength to go through another season of this.
I’m with you Sablegreen, I want the brother’s back.
Karen, I second you!
Where’s Sam, for God’s sake!?
So, my theory is that as payment for being freed from the cage, Sam has to hand to whoever took him out of there all the alphas out there. The cage must have been something incommensurably horrible for Sam, our Sam, to risk Dean!
I have always been on Sam’s side, but right now all I want to do is beat the crap out of him! Arghhhh
I couldn’t even do a re-watch tonight. That’s usually automatic for me. I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one. Will watch tomorrow with clearer head and less desire to choke the living shit out of Sam. I’m signing off for this evening! Enjoy Europeans!
So Yes I just watched Supernatural and i an on alice’s side i cannot bear to watch this again. I loved this show and both brothers equally almost. I can only hope that next week Dean gets to spend like the first 10 minutes kicking Sams ass and finally finds out what the hell is going on with him.
Ok, I’m on board with the no soul theory. That is not Sam.
That is not Sam. That IS not Sam. That is NOT Sam. It’s not. No way. Not all off him.
He’s the perfect hunter. And a worthless brother. I’m all shaky and emotional over this show again. Forgot it could do this?! Sam! Sammy! If I want him back this badly, I can’t even imagine what Dean is feeling. (yes, I realize he’s fictional)
What if Sammy is still down there? In the cage? Now! And all that made it topside was a functioning meat suit? No…you’d think Cas would have noticed that. Right? Ugh, I’m a wreck and emoting and not responding to the episode.
Well done it seems. Vey well done.
Sad about Lisa and Ben. Dean shoved Ben. That’s gotta be tearing him up. Awful stuff. But the “Does that work?†comment was awesome?
Need a re-watch but don’t know if I can make it through again tonight.
Alice, I couldn’t agree with you more! Such a shock and kick in the guts to watch Sam just standing there smirking as Dean was turned. I was screaming at him to help his brother. So very depressing to see Sam sink to such a low point (and boy, was that low!) Never thought I would see that from him. I do so miss the way they were the first 3 seasons. I want them back that way again, but I know I will never forget this incident, no matter what.
I’ll be right there with him if Dean kicks his skinny ass up around his shoulder blades. Why that wasn’t the last straw for Dean means he is a better person than I am.
Glad that gramps is suspicious of Sam too.
Dean was great by abstaining and then taking out the whole nest all by himself. I hope him and Lisa are not forever estranged by the events. She should be scared stiff really for herself and Ben. Dean deserves to have a peaceful haven with people who really love him.
Still can’t get over my shock. What an episode!
Yes Dany, you were right. My guesses were so freaking off for this ep! Man. The writers have me stumped.
Anyway, since you’ve got this SPN prediction thing going for you, why don’t you go ahead and predict that we get our Sammy back by next ep? Please? Pretty pretty please? With chocolate and cherries on top?
Also color me stunned with the episode. It has been a long time since I actually yelled at the TV. (Mostly only happens during my obsessiveness over college basketball.) But I found myself yelling at Sam. “What the hell is wrong with you and why aren’t you helping your brother!” Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam…. WHAT THE HELL!!!!! You soooo deserve to get the crap kicked out of you! The episode was great. Poor Lisa and Ben. This really sucks for them. I am still having trouble putting together coherent thoughts. I will have to re-watch. But Dean was one very hot, kick-ass vamp. Jensen is so good at playing frightening!Dean. And Jared is doing such a good job at making us want to kick Sams’ ass. Just got home from work, gotta go re-watch and re-group.