So all Edlund can bring is screwball humor, pointless episodes without purpose (yeah, that’s redundant I know). Here’s a rundown of some of the things Mr. Edlund has given us over the years, over nine episodes:
- Andy totally at ease with his abilities in sharp contrast to Sam completely uneasy with his abilities.
- Henricksen
- Ronald
- Bela – I know, I know, still she had her good moments…*crickets chirping*
- Demons were once human
- Dean’s afraid of Sam’s abilities
- Sam decides to become more like Dean, who apparently he sees as a killer – don’t beat me up on this folks I’ll try to explain this better in another article I’m working on.
- Ruby’s little plan deepens
- Ghostfacers – I love them, in small increments absolutely but I love them
- Sam’s not ‘that guy’ anymore, given the chance to wish for anything, he’ll wish for Lilith’s head on a plate, blood
- Dean finding a second chance and embracing his resurrection from hell
- Dean broke the first seal
- We ‘see’ Dean’s torture in hell through the lens of his torture of Alastair
- Sam drinks demon blood
- One look from Ruby in OTHOAP puts to rest forever any thought that she was anything but manipulative
Ben Edlund is so much more than a writer who only brings the funny. His nine episodes thus far have been a complete mix of standalone, satirical send ups, dark character explorations and all characterized by the trademark gore of Kripke/Gamble’s love for blood and all things horrorish. He does get a black mark, no Impala in Hollywood Babylon, that’s bad Mr. Edlund very bad. I could take issue further with Andy driving the Impala but I really liked Andy so I’ll let it slide, but an episode without it…bad, bad, bad. The only ‘shield’ you have here is that you’re not alone, even Mr. Kripke himself dissed the girl.
How do I rank these as favorites? With great difficulty as they are very different in their feel.
If I’m looking for humor I’ll take Hollywood Babylon, Bad Day At Black Rock, Ghostfacers, Wishful Thinking and Monster Movie in the following order, least favorite to most favorite:
Ghostfacers: Love this episode but too much time with the ghostfacers and not enough with the boys drops it to last place for the funny category.
Wishful Thinking: Audrey is excellent, the Teddy Bear makes me laugh again and again…why am I here?…Audrey: For tea parties!†(priceless).
Bad Day At Black Rock: The riffs, Sam and Dean are idjits (like we didn’t already know), Sam is bruised, battered, bloody…and his nose itches. Dean is Batman, Gordon needs to get back on his meds, Kubrick is a lovable goof…good times.
Monster Movie: Jaime is delightful, Dracula rides a motor scooter and uses coupons for his pizza, Jared and Jensen look awesome in black and white…they even send up themselves: “About time the Winchesters handled a good old black and white hunt.†Hah!
Hollywood Babylon: This one is just funny, top to bottom it is a delight. So for an evening of pure hilarity, Hollywood Babylon, baby.
If I were to rank the scarier, mytharcish, suspenseful episodes how would I place Simon Said, Nightshifter, Malleus Maleficarum and On The Head Of A Pin? Like this:
Malleus Maleficarum: As critical as I think aspects of this episode are, it’s not top to bottom a tightly written episode thus it’s fourth out of four.
On The Head of a Pin: Brilliant episode, thoroughly brilliant. We see Sam and Ruby’s dynamic a bit more clearly and get a huge reveal. Castiel, Uriel and Anna’s storylines get further fleshed out – I know many people hate the time spent here but there is a story to be told and I’d rather it told this way than just monologue like Crocotta or the witch in It’s The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester (and sooooo, very many others). Dean and Alastair’s relationship, such as it was in hell, is revealed and we see the damage wrought to Dean both physically – with Alastair as proxy – and emotionally through Dean. However, my love for the brothers together drops this one to third out of four since they spend the entire episode apart – even at the beginning in the Impala they are apart.
Simon Said: A great episode. Watch this one after Malleus Malificarum or the far more recent On The Head Of A Pin and you see clearly how far these brothers have come…there is almost an innocence to their relationship and their journey here…ah, good times. Plus it has great music!
Nightshifter: I can’t get past it, this one is tight from beginning to end. The brothers are together throughout, even when they’re separated by the steel door of the vault there is no doubt that they are together. Sam’s roll of the eyes as he suffers the ‘groupie’ fascination of the bank lady towards Dean is pure younger brother suffering and carries none of the exasperation he shows in OTHOAP in the Impala. This one just rocks from the ‘Breaking News’ to Styx.
There you have it, Ben Edlund, A deeper look, hope you enjoyed it and hope you’re as psyched as I am that we’re closer, closer, all that much closer to the start of Season 5.
Thanks for reading.
Elle2
That was great Elle2!
I just can’t agree with you more about these wonderful episodes and Mr. Edlund’s writing.
He has to be a great writer to have done both Hollywood Babylon and On the Head of a Pin. What a contrast in atmosphere!
Yes, I enjoy every one of Mr. Edlund’s episodes again and again and again.
I find I agree with you a lot Elle2. Great minds LOL?
Hi, Bevie,
I agree that it does take a lot of talent to be able to write the spectrum that is Nightshifter, Wishful Thinking and On The Head of a Pin. We are so fortunate to have so many — or actually so few which helps keep it from getting messy — wonderful writers on our show. I know other shows that have over a dozen writers and I often wonder why as I find so little continuity. Sometimes smaller is better. I digress…happens a lot.
I find quite a few people that agree with me or as I like to think of it — I agree with them. I would say there are many great minds that populate this site.
🙂
Many great minds indeed 🙂
I absolutely agree Elle2, I think Ben Edlund is effin brilliant. Although, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Dean is Batman, because I believe that he’s even more awesome than Batman
OTHOAP almost killed me dead, it’s so intense. And when Dean was in the hospital, it was really nice because we got back a tiny glimpse of the old Puppy!Sam. Especially when he demanded that Castiel heal Dean, “Miracle, now!”..omg.
Simon Said was also great. Funny and scary all in one. “You find out you got a brother you buy him a beer, you don’t start killing people!” Hah!
And how Ron absolutely hated Sam, too cute!
Ok basically, there’s too much awesome to summarize 🙂
Hi, Narcissus,
I agree about there being too much awesome to summarize. Since OTHOAP was on just the other night it really came home again just how awesome the episode is…and how awesome Season 4 was. Can you imagine we’re under four weeks now until the premier! Wow!
Glad you enjoyed that little look at Mr. Edlund’s eps. May there be many more
It’s quite a revelation seeing all his episodes listed like this … So many of my all time favorites are on there.
Let’s hope he’s got his pencils all nice and sharp for September!
Hi, Suze,
I agree with you, when I compiled them I was a bit shocked as I looked and realized, wow, he’s done some pretty powerful eps. I’m eagerly awaiting his genius (and sometime insanity) for Season 5.
🙂