But hey, now we have season 9! So when they kill us with a cliffhanger - at least we already know we're coming back baby! Can I hear a woohoo and a rousing rendition of Carry On Wayward Son?
Have you finished singing?
Ok, on to the preview for this week!
THEN
We discovered that the brother's grandfather was involved in secret men's business! Ok, he was one of the Men of Letters and he's now passed that legacy on to the next generation of Winchesters.
The boys discovered the Batcave, seeing as Dean's thought he's Batman for a few years now, it seems only proper!
Dean had a shower and wore a dead-guy's robe.
Sam read books.
They drank scotch, they smiled, they relaxed - wait - what show were we watching again?!
The boys got a break, which meant, so did the fans, . (great big happy sigh)
NOW
Meanwhile, back at the tablet arc!
Here's the synopsis.
KEVIN DECIPHERS THE TABLET Kevin deciphers the tablet and figures out how to close the gates of Hell. He tells Sam and Dean that according to the tablet one person must face a series of three tests designed by God. The first one - kill a hellhound. Sam and Dean argue over who should complete the trials. Kevin Parks directed the episode written by Andrew Dabb (#813).
Do you notice that little #813 there? Yep. So this is what Kevin had to say in his interview with Jules from Superwiki
"The actual script that I was supposed to do wasn't ready, so the one I shot is actually going to air 14 not 13."
"Trial and Error" is really episode 8.13. However, it looks like The CW changed the airing order of the episodes and "Trial and Error" was scheduled to air after "Everybody Hates Hitler".
Do we all get it? These shooting order/screening order episode numbers! Gah!
I do wonder if this will effect the interaction between the brothers - being as this was before the warm and fuzzy moment...technically...well script wise. Will we see less of what we got in the last episode? Or were they already on the path to teamwork and harmony, so we won't notice. Or will this episode be so action packed nobody has time to notice! Personally I'm happy that we got the two Men of Letters episodes together - that made the story flow on nicely - picking up where we'd left off the week before. That worked for me. Maybe that's why they did it, for the continuity of story.
Anyhoo, so, this is 1st AD Kevin Parks(ipedia)'s directorial debut. Last season, the alternate 1st AD, Johnny MacCarthy got his run at it, this season it was Kevin's turn. Certainly if there's anyone out there who knows or cares for the mythology and nitty gritty of the show, it's Kevin, hence the Parksepedia nickname!
Andrew Dabb is once again writing solo without his old partner Daniel Loflin (Dan's up for episode 16). Dabb's last outing was "Hunteri Heroici", which was a lot of fun...though this one looks much more serious!
One thing, this actually being the script for 8.13, is this the episode that Suzanne Gomez said had one of the best brother conversations she's ever read?
At least if the brothers are arguing, they're arguing over something good and not out of anger with each other! That's been my point of contention about this drama business...you can have drama without the anger, there can still be power to their arguments without them being filled with hurt.
And only one brother can do that tasks? Hmmm, and do you think they get to attempt all three in this episode? Or is this episode just the Hellhounds? I have so many questions!
So, lets look at the CW promo,
God's little obstacle course! Right. Are we thinking the glasses are to see Hellhounds? Whatever, they're super cute. Dean's geeky glasses are quite frankly, adorable...or adorkable...or both. Are we also thinking that the lucky gal locking lips with Dean is a Crossroads Demon? Dark hair, dark dress...hellhounds... It doesn't look, in this promo at least, that it's just the one brother doing all the work...it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I actually quite like this promo...and you know what I usually say about the CW promos!
Let's check out the CHCH promo....
OH.MY.GOD. Suicide mission. One of us dies. Well...we know that's not going to happen...but eeeeek! I've always thought the cost of closing the gates of Hell may be too great for them to pursue... Is this what they're finding out? What the actual cost of this quest will be to them? I assuming they figure out a way to do this without the dying bit! Been there...done that.
Sneak peek clip...
Oh...poor Kevin... He needs some sunshine and vitamins! Apart from Kevin's failing health and the brothers looking spectaculacular...this gives us bupkis!
Carver's preview! (Finally)!
Emotional nail-biter.... when is this show not emotional nail-biter?! I have to say - this made me look forward to this episode even more.
So...what are your thoughts. I'm hoping for a continuation of the strong storytelling and good vibes of last week.... I'm quite interested to see these trials and seeing as it's a main arc of the season, check in with the tablet storyline - though I'm digging this whole Men of Letters thing and I want to see more of the bunker! Might have to wait a week for that though.
This makes me optimistic...Look at those smiles.... SMILES! Double sunshine.
Sound off below and let me know if you're looking forward to a return to the tablet arc and what your theories are!
Thanks for reading, enjoy the episode and see you in reviewland!
-sweetondean
(I quite like this photo too... just sayin')
Comments
I can't wait to see how they decide who does the trials. How Sam gets tapped for it, so to speak. Dean is so protective of him. Just one more day!!!
Quote:Sam and Dean do indeed look fine! And Dean suggested salad... that made me laugh!
I'm really looking forward to this episode. It looks very action-packed. The CHCH promo makes me a tad nervous. One of us has to die. NO! not again
It's also great that season 9 has been announced so early, with several episodes still to film. I think this gives them a great advantage... we should get an awesome cliffhanger.
So happy there is a S9. Hope there is a lot of kissing for Dean. And me...
And yeah KG_SPN - already being confirmed for S9 means they can really plan out the end of the season with a rockin' finish!
Poor Kevin! Someone get that boy some real food and just a salad is not going to cut it. Dean did say he couldn't believe he was going to say it "salad". Sun and sleep might be in order also now that his work is done. I have to wonder though, what does he do now? No more tablets to desipher so until they find the Angel tablet maybe he can try to live a little normal life, whatever that can be at this point. Wishful thinking for Kevin.
I don't see Dean really getting into this kiss so I have to wonder if you aren't accurate (sweetondean) in stating she might be a Crossroads Demon. He has gone a long time without any female companionship so he is definitely due.
The double sunshine smiles is something we don't see that often so what a thrill for that.
Closing the gates of Hell couldn't possibly be an easy task so this should be of no surprise that there is plenty of obstacles to keep us on the edge of our seats. I just hope it is not at the expense of a Winchester in need of rescuing again. Well in 24 hours we will start getting our answers. Can't wait!!!!!
-we were supposed to wait to see if the boys used the key or not
-we know now that Kevin makes it out in one piece since Dean goes to check on him in EHH.
-Sam and Dean should already have a had a major heart to heart
-theres spoilers going around about Sam referring to Dean as the best hunter ever, even better than John, so does that mean that Dean was the one doing the tasks as he's the established hunter in the pair because we see Sam find his place in EHH as a Man of Letters so it makes sense that Dean establishes his role in TaE and Sam still doesn't know what his is?
I'm getting some definite hints as to what the show is trying to establish in terms of Sam and Dean's roles here with Dean the hunter/the brawn and Sam the MoL/the researcher.
Honestly I hate it when then change airing orders! Make me so confused & in between some details lose importance!
But regardless, so excited to see the episode!!!
Good pick up on the Kevin thing. As they knew they were having to change order due to writing holdups - maybe they were able to tweak the scripts?
But yeah, I'm glad we didn't have to wait to find out if the boys used that key.
I get all confused when they start messing with script/running order numbers!
My two cents:
I am glad we are getting some more Kevin and moving on with the tablets; the trials must be the "new conflict" Bob Singer was talking about in the Huff Post interview back at the end of January.
As for running order, couldn't they have picked up scenes to EHH to fill the gap (i.e. the conversation "two weeks later" about Kevin and Cas was added after the airing order was changed?).
Maybe it she is a cross-roads demon (in the clip Dean seems to be getting more into it than in the still, tho). But aren't these guys meant to be hiding from Crowley, aka King of the Crossroads? That could be awkward!
Yes, maybe as they knew that there was a delay, they were able to either do pick-ups or script tweaks that will help with the continuity.
And if this is the new conflict...I'm way cooler with this one than all the angry hurtful ones! Hopefully the arguing will be constructive!
The original press release for "Everybody Hates Hitler" has #8.14 yet the official press release for 8.15 has #8.14 also...
The description for 8.16 has #8.16 (thank Chuck!).
So... I don't understand basically. Let's roll with screening numbers.
The old man told Sam that the bat cave could not be located by anyone or thing - his words were along the lines that it was the safest place on the planet so I'm assuming that it is already angel proof.
We've heard that the boys have another disagreement at some stage & we've heard that Sam tells Dean he's the best hunter he's ever seen. We've also seen a clip where it looks like Sam is fighting.
What if this is where Sam finally spills everything to Dean about what happened after Dean disappeared? What if Sam tells Dean that he can't go through losing Dean again & that is why Sam wants to be the one completing the tasks. He would rather die than lose Dean again.
Perhaps this is why they argue. What do you think?
I honestly don't know what the first 11 episodes were about but this is Supernatural. This is the show I love.
I'm not sure how much I can discuss in this thread, but I loved the episode!
I'm sorry you didn't care for the secondaries or the pacing. I thought they were all a hoot. I especially loved the banter btw the country singer and her dad! I know the actress from soaps, and I swear she switched up her voice!
What was good about the brother talk? How did Sam save Dean oh puhleeez fill me in.
IMO, Dean's speech was sort of sad though. He made it clear that he loves Sam, and that Sam's happiness was the most important thing to him but he also put himself down a bit. He called himself a "grunt" who basically had no hope for the future. He diminished all of his great qualities.
At the end of the episode, Sam affirms that Dean is not a grunt, is a genuis, and the best hunter he knows - better than Sam himself and John! He told Dean that he did see a light at the end of the tunnel that Dean couldn't see, but he wanted to take Dean to that light if Dean would let him. It was such a sweet moment!
Basically, Dean looked at the trials as something that would likely kill the person doing them so, of course, he took up the mantle immediately and declared he was doing them. Sam didn't really fight him on this. Sam wanted to do the trials b/c he wanted to survive them. Sam basically doesn't want Dean dead. He wants Dean alive and well!
I hope you'll enjoy it when you see it
The boys were wearing these glasses doused in holy fire/oil so they could see hellhounds. Dean went to kill the one hellhound, but somehow he got knocked down and lost the knife. I have to watch again to see how that happened b/c it was pretty quick. Sam shot the hellhound, dove for the knife and killed it w/the knife. It was pretty sick stuff!
Oh, and Sam in a Tshirt... a messy, messy, bloody Tshirt.
(I think he should've removed it.)
No demon or a hellhound were a match for that wretched t-shirt ;)
Can I have it Sam, mkay?
I can't believe that we got not just one fabulous brother speech, but TWO. Dean's "I need you to be safe, Sam. That's what I need" and his explanation of his only perfect ending in sight, blew me away. YES! Protective big brother is back! And then to hear Sam say: "Yes, I see the light and if you come with me, I'll take you to it" was phenomenal.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Jeremy Carver for bringing back the true essence of what makes this series the very best on TV.
Though I didn't care for the secondary characters, and thought the pace was a bit slow, the second half of the episode was wonderful. Just wonderful brotherly fluff. :)
I give it a B - with a smile. :)
Both Js looked hotter than ever, IMO. Even in funny, yet really very useful, glasses.
I give it an A - and I'm still smiling. ;D
The family members were a little too stereotypically annoying for me to like them much. Liked the hellhound effects.
Go Sam!!
Actually.... that's all I've got because I'm a little overwhelmed with all the wonderful Supernatural feels.
at the beginning of the season i watched every week but i hadn't the anticipation for ea. week that i always had....but now, i know when it's wednesday and i'm back to looking at the time again and that's a great place for me to be. i'm happy here.
by the time this eppy was over i found myself not only excited and joyful but absolutely baffled.
everything dean has said since larp and the real girl has me totally confused as to what his resentment/ange r towards sam was about in the first half of the season. it makes no sense to me.
everything dean said he wants for sam, it seemed to me that that's what dean thought sam had while he was in purgatory. i concluded that dean was angry at sam because he thought he met a girl and quit hunting and left him there..like sam knew he was there but still did nothing.
i thought the whole first half of the season was ridiculous.
unfortunately for us sam's character isn't as black and white as dean's. we always know what dean is thinking and where he's coming from. he's like the picture on the cover of the jigsaw puzzle box. but sam, he's more like the puzzle in the box that you have to put together. he's not as black and white and if a fan isn't really interested in sam, they won't take the time to see what's really going on with him and often sam ends up being viewed as in the wrong.
it's my belief that sam did look for dean in those unaccounted for 2-3 months prior to hitting the dog. i think he didn't know where to look., had no resources, no contacts...no anything...he really was utterly alone and in all honesty i believe he didn't know what to do. that's when i think he started fixing the car and then just kind of started driving around aimlessly. you see i think sam convinced himself that dean was dead. it's a defense mechanism for him, which i think is better than the alternative, which is yet again failing his brother, not able to save him.
on one of his aimless drives, i think he hit the dog . it was obvious from the fbs that he fell into a normal routine quite by accident, waiting for the dog to heal. amelia seemed to me to be a way for sam to focus his attention away from his loss. he noticed by the signs that she was a messed up person and was drawn to her. he wanted to help. he needed to help...he needed not to fail someone. it wasn't about love. in no fb was there a sign he loved her...but i think it was about wanting to fix her....to succeed with her where he failed, in his head, dean.
being team winchester who understands sam and sees where he's coming from all of this was quite obvious to me.
dean, from what i gathered, had this image in his head that sam went off with a girl rather than look for him.
but based on what i'm seeing now, i'm not sure that's what it was really about with dean. sam told dean he thought he was dead. based on that alone, if dean had died then i would think, as i certainly believe, that dean would go to heaven. after all the boys have been to heaven multiple times before according to ash. so why would sam take dean out of heaven? after all the only way to retrieve a soul is to make a deal with a crossroads demon, thus repeating the same cycle of sacrifice and pain.
contrary to what notion deanmight have had, sam really wasn't happy with amelia. every fb we saw, only showed how miserable the two of them were, individually and together.. the way i saw it, it was simply a misery loves company situation. it seemed to me that sam knew it was doomed from the start. according to hunteri heroici, sam already recognized that he couldn't run from reality. breaking up with amelia made it quite obvious to me that sam knew he had to stop running. in my opinion, sam didn't need don or even dean to break up with her...he would've left her for any reason because he was still unhappy and lost.
in all honesty, i think now that dean wasn't angry that sam didn't look. i know dean heard sam when he said he thought he was dead. that he imploded and that he ran....after all, back in s2 when sam died...the first words to bobby was that he was done with it. he'd paid enough. he'd lost enough. even in s6, though part of it was about keeping a promise to sam, dean was running too...he didn't want to hunt without his brother.
i've now come to the conclusion that dean was angry/resentful because he thought sam forgot him. that i believe stems from dean's issue of low self esteem. he still doesn't see how much he means to his brother and what it's truly like for sam when dean isn't there. s4 is a prime example of that. i think dean thought because sam was with amelia, he wasn't thinking about him....that sam actually accepted his loss and moved on...and though it's exactly what we all have to do eventually , i think for dean he wasn't ready for that yet.
but sam didn't move on and forget. the whole debacle with amelia is exactly because sam couldn't forget.
this is all jmo of course...but this new outlook does make me feel a bit better about the atrocity that was the first half of the season....at least for me and being able to talk about here with you guys....whether you think i'm off my nut or not, i appreciate being able to share.
Hi nappi!
Thank you for your whole comment! And especially the description of the puzzle box is totally appropriate! It is what drives me sometimes crazy, because it is also connected with the POV and those people out there can miss or hit with Sam.
I think too the first 10 episodes were a atrocity more than anything else, and I was more and more disconnected! The way how you decribe Sam's time is how I see him too, but I miss still something and I don't think they will go there and show us how Sam reacted! This is up to us and how we interpret the scenes with Sam.
Since episode LARP or better after this episode I found slowly and cautiously my way back to SPN's heart! And with the last episode it was the top now I feel that we really got our show back. I almost gave up and my comments were mostly in the bitterniss thread or the Sam thread, well now what really still is nagging is the "Sam didn't look for Dean" how they executed this was very unsatisfying. but now with the last 3-4 episodes my show came slowly back and the tip of the ice cake would be that we get a speech or FB from Sam's time directly after Dean vanished in the lab!
I have friends via internet who stopped watching the show because of the way it was executed the brotherly connection and the insight was so missing that they didn't wanted to continue. I followed still the episodes and could now give specially one of my friends from Greece the signal that our show is back. It feels this way and since the last episode aired I am on fire again!!! It was already before and I was still cautious (the burned child syndrom) but now its back and this is the most happy comment I made this whole season.
The episode is the first I re-watched already a few times and the first I got teary eyes and had to gulp! It was Sam's speech at the end because I did not expect it, it caught me by surprise!
And to see Sam in this blood soaked t-shirt was really wow, he looks like a real knight somehow!! I want a picture from this scene!
Thanks nappi!!!! I am so happy right now that our brothers the heart is back!
fingers and toes crossed...optim ism still in tact.