Wednesday’s Watching Supernatural 250TH: 12.09 “First Blood”
Everyone’s on the Hunt.
Torture, Twists and Traps intensified a tacitly rendered raison d’être.

WEDNESDAY’S WATCHING
Supernatural 12.09 “First Blood”
250th Episode!!!
Writer: Andrew Dabb
Director: Bob Singer
Director of Photography C.S.C: Serge Ladouceur
Airdate: January 26th, 2017
BY WEDNESDAY
WHAT DID I WATCH?

THE SCRIPT
Skilfully, Mick, the glib BMOL, returned to narrate and frame the tale.

The hiatus fit nicely into the Season 12 timeline. We didn’t miss a beat.
(Well, unless you wanted to watch the Winchesters roam their cells every day for “6 weeks, 2 days, and 10 hours.”)
Surprises and “a-ha!” moments provided engaging drama.
FORESHADOWING clues in the dialogue were crafty enough to be unobtrusive, yet still arouse curiosity.

THEMES
UNGRATEFULNESS





The World Without Winchesters?
Hunters felt the void created by the missing Winchesters.
The BMOL needed the Winchesters to make inroads with the Hunters.
And, of course, the loss of her boys tormented Mary.

Sacrifice
Again, the Winchesters poised to sacrifice themselves for each other.

Abuse of Power/Torture
Definite tensions existed between AUTHORITY figures Camp and Sanchez.
This episode, again, reflected on the ABUSES of those in POWER.




Script Flaws

NO EYE CANDY Baby! Nooooo!
CINEMATOGRAPHY/PRODUCTION
Time Lapse /Transitions


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKt1hWmvqjw
REPETITION
ANGLES


MOTIFS
Traps



Photographs


HANDS
The Motif of HANDS highlighted plot points and characterization:



SYMBOLS

COLOURS
Green = Fear




Then, the whole world turns GREEN.




LOCATION
The beautiful forest scenes:



SFX /VFX



Fight Choreography


ALLUSIONS/ PROPS
The antique, but high tech, typewriter Mick Davies used
is like the Selectric 251 from the show, “Fringe.”

A Line from the movie “Cool Hand Luke” :
A Line from “Watchmen” by Rorschach in prison:
“I’m not locked in here with you; you’re locked in here with me!”


BECHDEL TEST





PERFORMANCES
Donald Hong, the terrified coroner:

Donavon Stinson, as Wally, the “surly, suspicious” Hunter:





I find myself holding my breath when these two come on screen.
Another well-oiled team, David Haydn-Jones, as Mr. Ketch, and Adam Fergus, as Mick,
exchanged this greasy, chilling glance about the neglected “clean-up.”



(Oh! No, you didn’t!)
Lisa Berry
Another smouldering and vengeful performance from Lisa Berry, and although it could be her last,
I’m in complete denial. Surely, her resurrection is imminent. If not the Supernatural world has taken a direct hit.

Samantha Smith portrayed Mary’s fear and anxiety.
Worried, cranky, Mary assumed the typical Winchester response:
work it off.


Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles
gave all-star performances.
It was all in the details of facial expressions, silent communication, and gestures.


Dean communicated silently with Sam (see also First Aid Kit above.)

Sam dipped his deathly Pact HAND to clean.
A moment of foreshadowing, and characterization, while incorporating the HAND motif.






Misha Collins
Misha Collins had ALL THE FEELS. His fear, anger, self-loathing, and his depth of love for the Winchesters
led to his impassioned speech at the end,
which made me realize that this episode was his story to tell all long.









As in 11.17 “Red Meat”, Sam is drawn to the lantern light.




Rating: Five Chow Trays out of Five!!!

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