RearView Review: Supernatural 10.10 “The Hunter Games”
“THE HUNTER GAMES”
Season 10, Episode 10
Writers: Eugenie Ross-Leming
Brad Buckner
Director:John Badham
Airdate: January 20, 2015
BY WEDNESDAY
THEME
If you can’t trust your family, who can you trust?
There’s a little monster in all of us.
“The Road So Far” was a phenomenal montage of Season 10 set to the song,
“Long Black Road” by E.L.O. Definitely worth a re-watch. ♪ “You gotta get up in the morning,
take your heavy load and you gotta keep goin’ down the long black road” ♪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwctzYdUHgI
Crowley’s steps echo in Hell’s Hall. Apprehensive, he hears a sound.
Guthrie (Russell Roberts) and another demon enter carrying blades. Crowley turns.
Two more demons enter from behind.
He’s trapped.
A demon crashes through a stained glass window, and another caves in the ceiling.
They fall stabbing Crowley like he’s Julius Caesar. He lies helplessly on his back.
Rowena’s voice wakes him from his assassination. Rowena’s full of motherly concern,
“You’re soaked in the horror sweat. Haven’t seen that since the plague years. Darlin’, what can I do?”
Crowley snarls, “Not a thing, you evil bitch.”
Rowena corrects him, “Not a thing, you evil bitch, ‘mother’.” Crowley leaves.
Rowena retrieves her hex bag from his throne and kisses it.
( Make your own Nightmare Hex Bag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7-4_zKF5jw )
CURSED VISION 2
Dean sits on his bed clasping the Mark. Images of his carnage appear.
He stares haggardly into a broken mirror.
SAY WHAT, NOW?
Cas is worried about Claire.
Sam swears Randy used Claire, and Cas was right to intervene.
Cas thinks Claire loved Randy because he was kind to her.
(She must have forgotten that Randy pimped her out in the last episode.)
Castiel doesn’t think Randy deserved what he got. (?)
Dean interrupts, “It was a massacre. …There was a time I
was a hunter, not a stone-cold killer? You can say it. You’re not wrong. I crossed the line.
Guys, this thing’s got to go.” They are stumped on how to remove the Mark.
Cas wishes for the Demon Tablet and sighs, “There may be another way.”
SOWING SEEDS IN HELL
Guthrie catches Rowena snooping. She claims she was looking for a “wee scrap of food.”
Guthrie, who doesn’t eat or sympathize, restates his orders for her to leave.
Rowena sweetly commiserates with Guthrie, “Oh, you poor, dear man. Guthrie, is it?
Terrified of displeasing him, aren’t you? …You’re all scared spitless. Still, a boy listens
to his mum. I’d be happy to put in a good word for you.” Guthrie refuses her offer just as
Crowley enters with problematic paperwork he entrusts to Guthrie.
Crowley asks if Rowena’s “Bored? Suicidal? Both?”
Rowena finds the “discontent, the gossip, the plotting” to be edifying, and Guthrie’s the worst,
Watch yourself around him, mark my word.”
Crowley experiences dé-jà vu. (Like the rest of us.)
“That’s exactly what you said about the guard, Gerald.”
Crowley knows what Rowena’s doing, “shamelessly sucking
up so that I’ll free you so you can run amok and gum up my operation once again.”
Rowena insists she’s happy and proud to remain with her son.
Crowley’s not about to “curl up in her lap” because she abandoned him for “300 years.”
Rowena says they’ve “been over this.” (Exactly!) She fled because of the locals, and put him
in a workhouse because she had a chance to work with the “Milanese witch, Letitia Di Albioni.”
She refuses to apologize for being a “career woman” and licks her thumb to smooth Crowley’s eyebrow.
HEAVEN HELP US
Cas anxiously awaits Ingrid at heaven’s portal. She appears with Metatron. Ingrid
(Danielle Kremeniuk) stresses that Metatron must be returned intact. Cas agrees.
Metatron reminds Cas, “Told you last time I saw you, I’d get out of the slammer.”
(Yes, and that he wouldn’t help Cas.)
Metatron speculates Castiel would never ask for help for himself so…. He spots Sam by the Caddie.
Metatron’s unnerved. “I’m betting you didn’t tell Ingrid about him. Hello, Sam. Here to kill me?”
DIDN’T YOU KILL MY BROTHER?
Sam chains Metatron in the Bunker’s dungeon chair.
“Lovely room. It’s where you bring the kinky chicks. Am I right?”
Sam says Metatron’s there to reveal “how to remove the Mark from Dean’s arm.”
Metatron’s thrilled Dean’s in trouble,
“He’s gone nuclear! Total foaming at the mouth, balls out maniac. That’s fantastic!”
Sam reminds him of the task.
Metatron responds, “If you expect any help out of me, you keep that crazy brother of yours on a short leash.”
Sam doesn’t care. Metatron killed his brother.
Dean, entering, glares at Metatron who worriedly tucks his chin down.
SHIP HAS SAILED
Claire’s packing.
Cas knocks at the door and enters. Claire was “hoping” she’d be gone before Castiel came.
Castiel asks if it’s the room, but Claire says it’s him. “I get it, you feel bad, but you, whoever you are, are nothing to me.”
Cas says he feels “a responsibility to help” her. He thinks she’s “adrift” and wants her to have a “normal life.”
Claire keeps packing, “Well, that ship has sailed.” She demands Cas to “Stop talking to me like you’re my father.
You killed my father. And that friend of yours killed the last thing I had closest to family.”
Cas is discombobulated.
“Are you speaking of Randy? Family? A man had you in that room, and Randy didn’t make a move to help you.”
Claire irrationalizes, “Maybe because he was at gunpoint. Dean Winchester’s a monster.”
Cas wisely responds, “It’s possible there’s a little monster in all of us.”
Claire wants to be on her own. She leaves a confused Castiel and audience.
WORDWADS
“Ain’t life a bitch?” Metatron asks.
“Nebbishy little guy, me, always sticking it to the lunkhead jocks.”
Sam suggests they address the “keynote speaker.”
Dean wants to enjoy the “personal pleasure of carving the answers out” of him.
(Do it!)
Metatron tells “Badass” Dean to hold on, “Why do you just assume I’m not gonna be helpful?”
Sam answers, “Because you’re a dickwad.”
(In one of worst lines ever written:)
Metatron responds, “But I’m your dickwad. I have a special place in my non-heart
for you both, to which end, ta-da! I would be tickled to help you pop this biblical zit.
To do it, you are gonna need one specific thing. Your old bud, The First Blade.
Dean looks tormented.
Metatron laughs, “As I said, Ain’t life a bitch?”
WALK & TALK
Sam and Dean stride through the Bunker.
Sam thinks getting the Blade is the “single worst idea I’ve ever heard.
You just whacked a whole houseful of people and that’s when the Blade was nowhere around,
and now you want to be in actual contact with it?”
Dean doesn’t want contact with it; but, he knows they need it.
Dean calls Crowley while Sam continues to wrestle with the idea,
“Are you sure this isn’t the Mark making you want the damn thing? I mean, why would we trust anything Metatron says?”
Dean doesn’t; but, “What’s his game if he is lying, okay?”
Sam wonders.
Dean argues, if they’re not willing to take a chance, “What was the point in bringing him here?”
(Good question.)
T 4 1
Rowena pours herself tea, reminding Crowley she used to sing a lullaby nightly after he “fed the goat.”
(Bad to worse) Crowley sighs, “You never sung me a lullaby. You dosed me with whiskey until I passed out.”
Rowena “had a touch for pharmacology. Your mum was a prodigy.”
Squirrel calls and wants to meet “A.S.A.P.” Crowley excuses himself, “Got to go. Urgent. A matter of state.”
After he leaves, Rowena finds a gargantuan pair of scissors.
Humming, she opens a closet, revealing an assortment of identical ties.
She snips a piece, rubs the silk, and looks devious.
BACK-SPIN BANGER
Claire plays pool with two new friends. She explains her situation and amazingly they follow the nonsense.
“After my mom split and went crazy, Randy was like a father to me.
First I lose my first dad, then I lose my second dad, and who killed him and trashed my life?
The buddy of the guy who killed my first dad and wants to be my third dad.”
Impossibly, Brit (Celia Reid) empathizes with Clair by saying, “Wow. Sounds just like my life.” (?)
Tony (Bradley Stryker) says family only brings, “Complications and pain.” That’s why Brit and Tony keep moving.
Brit invites Claire to “hang with” them. Claire warns them, “People near me get pretty unlucky pretty fast.”
Her phone rings.
Tony asks if it’s “the guy who killed your second dad, or the guy who killed your first dad?”
Claire responds, “The second thing.” (?)
Brit counsels Claire, “You seem real sweet, but sweetness don’t clean up messes.”
“Right,” says Claire taking a shot.
Tony and Brit share a menacing look.
SPYING IN THE RAIN
Rowena hums “My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean” while preparing an astral vision spell.
(Sorry no link, as it requires boiling a rat alive.)
Head thrown back, eyes white, she flies over the foggy city above the heads of Crowley, Sam, and Dean in the rain.
Crowley’s upset by their ludicrous request for the Blade. “It’s insane. You want me to procure the most
dangerous weapon on the planet for Dean Winchester, the man who goes mental
every time he touches it! I thought you wanted to go for a beer, catch a film.”
Sam argues, “When the Mark is gone, the Blade can’t operate.” (?)
Dean interjects, “Win, win. Huh? Win, win!”
“Stop that.” Snaps Crowley.
Dean cautions him, “I’m doing everything I can to keep it together. Now, you think
the body count around me is high right now? Wait till Hal takes over.”
Crowley agrees to visit his crypt in Guam.
Rowena’s sight reverses. Eyes returned to normal, she smiles.
Guthrie, sorting scrolls, is skeptical of Rowena’s command from Crowley. He prefers to deal “mano a mano.”
Rowena works the underling, and former Cross Roads demon, until he weakens.
Touching him, she asks, “You do travel. Is that not correct?”
BUNK
Distraught, Cas looks down from the entry railing.
“The First Blade’s back in play, and Crowley’s the one getting it? I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but you…”
Dean interrupts, “Well, you know us. When we screw ourselves, we like to go whole hog.
.. I don’t do this, I’m down the rabbit hole. Hear evil, see evil, do evil, the trifecta.”
Sam says Cas has enough on his “plate with Claire.” Cas reveals that Claire is gone.
He was hoping Dean would “reach out to her.”
“Me?” asks Dean, “Seriously, I’m probably the last person she would want to hear from.”
(Valid point)
Cas explains there might be a connection between “one extremely messed-up human to another.
You could explain why you murdered her only friend.” (?)
Dean agrees with this “long shot” contrivance. Cas will text the number because he likes “texting. Emoticons.”
When Dean goes to make a sandwich, Cas notes that Dean “seems calm…”
Sam agrees, “Too calm. I think he’s worried what will happen if he pops a cork.”
TOMB RAIDERS
Crowley enters his tomb. He snaps his fingers and torches blaze.
He moves to the head of the sarcophagus and stoops to blow away dust, revealing the name, Macleod.
He waves open the lid to reveal a skeleton and a small heavy trunk. He lifts the trunk.
The space inside for the Blade, is empty.
AW, HELL NO
Rowena stretches on Crowley’s throne. When Guthrie enters, she pretends it’s because of a sore back.
Guthrie holds up the satchel. “I have it…I will deliver it only to the King.”
Rowena’s delighted, “You have demonstrated unimpeachable loyalty,
Guthrie. You, more than any, deserve this reward from a grateful monarch.”
She drives a blade through him, “Don’t screw with me, sycophant.”
Rowena has five seconds to go from gloating murderess to distressed victim;
and she does.
Crowley enters, “What in hell?”
Rowena reacts, “Exactly. What in the hell is going on in hell?
You said Guthrie was one of …your most trusted, and yet I found him inciting unrest amongst the court.
… Colluding with someone called Winchester?
…You were going to fetch The First Blade, which could kill us all.
Naturally, I confronted him, and he attacked me.”
Crowley pauses, “I had a vision of Guthrie attacking me.”
These “Hunter Winchesters” could be a “great danger” and,
“Who is there left for you to trust?” Rowena asks.
Shaken, Crowley seems unsure.
BURN PLOT
Brit and Claire sit in front of a derelict camper watching a fire.
Brit fondly recalls a Break and Enter.
Tony joins them with beer, laughing, “Of course, the family came home from vacation, screwed up everything.”
Brit just about “peed” herself “when the wife pulled that gun out of her purse.” They “ran two miles, bare-ass naked.”
Claire gets a message from Dean: “We need to talk in person. Just tell me where, okay? Call me.”
Claire tells her friends that Dean gutted Randy, “I saw him standing there, soaked in blood, looking like he enjoyed it.
And now he wants to meet and talk.” (?)
Tony offers to take care of Dean.
Brit says they’ll “Beat him up bad.”
“Or,” Tony adds, “something more permanent.”
CALL ME
Crowley calls Squirrel. He has the Blade. Dean heads to the dungeon.
OH, YA WHAT ABOUT….
The light snaps on interrupting Metatron’s nap. Dean wants the next step.
Metatron announces, “This is where it gets interesting.”
(There’s always hope.)
“That first little tip I gave you, a freebie, just cuz you’re you. Every future step?
They’re gonna cost you. Big. Oh, and F.Y.I., there’s a bunch.”
Dean slams a blade on the table, and walks to the door.
“Whatcha doing there, Slugger?”
Dean doesn’t answer. He locks them in. Returning to Metatron, he picks up the blade,
“I’m settling a score that’s taken way too long to settle. …and it ain’t gonna cost me a damn dime, Slugger.”
Metatron repeats his offer, “each step costs you.”
Dean lists Metatron’s offences ending with, “And, oh, yeah, you killed me.”
Metatron’s not impressed, “My morality is being judged by Dean Winchester? How many people
have suffered and died because they believed in you?”
Metatron lists Dean’s sins ending with, “Now people die just because you want them to!”
Dean punches him in the face.
Metatron tells him to “Go darker.” Dean punches him again.
“Go deeper!” Dean hits him with a left and then alternates right, left, and right.
Metatron’s bleeding.
“Surely you’ve noticed every time you respond, when the Mark gets you all twitchy, you fall deeper under its spell.
You think roughing up a few humans and demons makes it worse?
Try messing with the scribe of God, Bucko!”
MISSING
Cas wants to drive around looking for Claire. He passes the kitchen where Dean should
still be making a sandwich. Dean’s missing.
They run.
WORSE
Dean gives Metatron two right crosses and a left.
He grabs Metatron’s face, “Let’s try this again. What’s the next step?”
“Go screw yourself!”
Sam pounds on the door. “Dean, open the door. Hey! Open the door!”
Dean slices Metatron’s face which glows blue and then bloodies.
Dean sizzles a thin line on Metatron’s chest. Metatron screams.
Sam kicks the door.
Finally, Cas orders Sam to “Move!” With eyes glowing, Cas booms the door down.
Metatron gasps, “Behold… The river shall end at the source.”
Sam yells, “You were killing him!”
Cas gave his word to take Metatron back.
Sam assures Cas, “it won’t happen again” (?)
When Cas approaches, Sam stands protectively in front of his brother.
Metatron scolds Cas and then Dean, “If you ever ask me for help again, I will choose Death.
You realize it’s going to get worse, Dean. You’re gonna get worse!”
Dean already looks worse.
(The script can’t get any worse…or can it?)
RECONNECT
Sam and Dean share beers and perspectives on “the river ends at the source.”
Sam speculates the Mark is a powerful force but Cain had the Mark for years.
Maybe, Dean, “maybe you have to fight that, you know? (Maybe?)
Dean receives a call from Claire:
“Maybe it’s only fair to hear your side of it. … Castiel seemed to trust you, a lot.”
Dean asks where they can meet.
NO!
Dean parks Baby and sits on a bench. Claire peaks out from the trailer.
Brit sneaks with a bat. Tony creeps with an axe.
Dean looks at his watch. Claire runs to the door of the trailer. “No!”
Dean turns in time to see Brit take a swing.
He dodges the blow and uses the bat to trap Brit.
He turns to confront Tony’s axe.
Dean throws Brit down and blocks the axe with the bat.
He makes short work of Tony, knocking him to the ground with Brit.
Dean, picking up the axe, stands over them.
Claire cries, “No!” Dean sees Claire’s frightened.
He raises the axe. Claire yells, “No! No!” Dean brings the axe down on the bench.
Claire stares at Dean through tears while Tony and Brit scuttle away.
ROADSIDE
Cas, in his Caddie, follows Claire down the road. She asks him, “How the hell did you find me?”
Castiel lies, “Angels are able to find those who pray to them.” Claire’s given up on praying.
Well, Castiel can pick up on a “longing.” He asks if there’s something she wants to tell him.
Claire admits that she’ll try to do things differently, “let go of the little bit of monster in me.”
She wants to be on her own, but she’ll call.
She tells Cas to leave because, “No one’s gonna pick me up with that butt-ugly car sitting there.”
Cas says “I’ll see you, Claire.”
Claire says she likes him “better in a tie.” (Daddy issues.)
Cas drives away looking at the abandoned minor in the REARVIEW mirror.
A dreadful script that made no sense in order to contrive situations
and to repeat unnecessarily and terribly what has already been said.
CONTRIVED
Two random characters, Brit and Tony, are willing to kill someone for a girl they just met?
Claire wants Dean killed for killing Randy, a man who pimped her out and whom she recognized as scum in the last episode.
Can we forget her face the last time she looked at Randy?
Castiel thinks Dean’s the one Claire needs to talk to? Doesn’t make sense.
Castiel brings Metatron from heaven to try to get information out of him,
although Metatron made it clear he wouldn’t help Castiel in an earlier episode.
REPETITIVE
(We have the “Road So Far,” and audiences can replay episodes, yet, we are subjected to repetitive nonsense.)
Crowley and Rowena go over his abandonment, again.
Rowena remembers revealing a Demon’s (Gerald’s) duplicity.
Sam advises Dean to fight the force of the Mark. ???
Claire recaps everything that happened to two strangers to give justification for murder.
Metatron and Dean go over every sin each other has committed.
TERRIBLE LINES
Many were bolded in the text of this article.
Hindsight makes this line massively annoying: “the river ends at the source.”
Oddly, the scene where Dean beats Tony and Brit, the only word spoken was “NO.”
When Dean and Claire have a moment, absolutely nothing was said.
(Or was it cut because it was worse than terrible.)
Dean would probably have called Castiel, but Castiel denies this saying he heard Claire’s “Longing” to talk.
Earlier he was going to drive around looking for her. Why, if he can sense her longing?
Sounds like a lot of ad-libbing. There’s still no transcript available on Supernatural Wiki.
Is it possible the script was even more bare bones than this?
Wow!
Sometimes when I critique a script I ask myself, “Come on. Could you really do any better?”
The answer here would be a resounding “Hell, Yes, I could!” (Seriously, call me.)
Enough said, I’m flipping the KILL SWITCH on this one.
DIRECTION
DIRECTOR/CINEMATOGRAPHY
John Badham /Brad Creasser
A unique impressive eye! John Badham is a master of exploitation.
(John Badham wrote the book: “Badham on Directing”
Visit a clip of previous work: http://www.johnbadham.com/
Please come back, John, when there’s a better script.)
MOVE
Because the script didn’t move, Badham kept the characters MOVING.
Cast walked, ran, packed, made sandwiches, drank tea, and signed documents.
(Kudos to cast, too)
HIGH ANGLES
High angle shots worked HARD establishing setting and giving Character P.O.V.
EXPLOITING LOCAL SETTINGS
Badham used Vancouver’s rain, stunning water sides, and Astoria’s neon lights.
(The Astoria in Vancouver is known as the ‘Ass’ because of its cesspool location. TIP: DON’T book the hotel.
It’s used only by destitute Ladies who are paid to stay there. The Bar thrives due to cheap beer and noteworthy music.)
MOTIF HALLS
MOTIF FLAMES
WINDOWS/MIRRORS
CU’S
Exploiting the cast’s TALENT with CU’S
SET/PROPS
SHIP
Castiel thinks Claire’s “adrift.” She tells him, “That ship has sailed.”
TEA
MAKEUP PROGRESSION
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY/SFX
BEST PEFORMANCE
HELP DECIDE
1. Who should win “Best Performance” for this episode?
Claire Novice Novak: PDG range of emotions bitter/scared/ weepy
Castiel: (won last episode) range of emotions angry/ worried/shy
Dean: Mean Dean’s Scary!
Crowley: His faces dealing with Rowena are priceless. Wide range: fear/annoyance/confused/ angry
Rowena: Fairly danced. Her humming, smoothing Crowley’s eyebrows, deviousness.
Metatron: had terrible lines but managed to deliver. Tortured and taunting. I adore hating this guy.
Sam: Troubled/angry/protective. Wet?
MORE QUESTIONS
1. What should Dean and Claire have said to each other at the end?
2. Can you think of better portal to heaven than a sandbox?
(It’s supposed to move around. Be Budget Conscious)
(Answer in the comments below. Don’t forget your emoticons.)
FROM THE REAR VIEW
Bradley Stryker (Tony) played Ted in 4.11 “Family Remains”
The Episode was dedicated in memory of Matt Riley (1971 – 2014)
THANKS TO:
Supernatural Wiki
Home of the Nutty Screencaps
I.M.D.B.
Forever Dreaming Transcripts
GIFS:
Supernatural Daily
http://supernaturaldaily.tumblr.com/tagged/10×10
GIPHY
http://giphy.com/gifs/vintage-the-addams-family-wednesday-j3T86ledheKCk
You do you know that Crowley’s Palace isn’t actually in Hell, it was confirmed by Robert Berens that it’s on Earth.
Rowena’s cell mate also said that she was in prison because she wasn’t allowed “up here”. Also the trees in the windows were probably a give away too.
I think the problem with Crowley’s top side hell is that they are trying too hard to make it look like hell. It’s pretty unimaginative to me. I really liked it when Crowley was staying in that rundown mansion that we saw him in the first few times. He had his Craig’s and his fire, but everything else was moldy and decaying. I liked that. It gave him and his domain a sense of realism that the current incarnation does not have.
Okay so it is a chamber of hell on earth…. Crowley is in charge and every one is suffering including some of the audience, because he is bored and pining for Dean. Rowena thinks it is hell: Rowena reacts, “Exactly. What in the hell is going on in hell?
I am with you Wednesday, throwing the switch. The re-watch proved this episode to be worse the second time around and I agree : Blaming the writing and secondary plots. First time I was waiting to see if something interesting was going to happen. And my take away is in accord with the reaction of many: Sam is hot with wet hair. Also, I personally LOVED Dean’s entrance, emerging from the shadows to confront Metatron for the first time after his murder by the urchin angel’s hands. I wish Dean would have beat Metatron to an inch of his permanent demise and I think Sam should have had a swing in there too. Other than that the rest was a wasteland.
Wickedly poor dialogue as you pointed out:
Cas explains there might be a connection between “one extremely messed-up human to another.”
This is just some extremely ludicrous way to connect Dean to Claire. Dean Winchester is equated with a teenager who thinks Randy is her surrogate Father?
And since when would Cas call Dean an extremely messed up human being?
“You could explain why you murdered her only friend.” (?) Yes, I think Dean should sit down with Claire and explain the MOC, how he got there, why he is fighting evil, his relationship with Sam and apologize for killing her dear surrogate father. We could accomplish this over another 3 episodes. 😉
[quote]Metatron tells “Badass” Dean to hold on, “Why do you just assume I’m not gonna be helpful?”
Sam answers, “Because you’re a dickwad.”
(In one of worst lines ever written:) [/quote]
I agree, this is when Sam should have hit Metatron.
So in answer to your questions- I’ll play.
[quote] What should Dean and Claire have said to each other at the end?[/quote]
I liked the no dialogue because what do you say to a teenager who just set you up to be killed…. “I know your angry but Don’t do that”?
I think Dean should have scared the crap out of her lunged at her, grabbed her by the arm and said “Look sweetheart, you think you know what this world is about but going down the path to murder is a dead end. ” Claire says nothing.
I would love to know what others think, especially Nate and E.
[quote]Can you think of a better portal to heaven than a sandbox? (It’s supposed to move around. Be Budget Conscious)[/quote]
No I cannot. I like the portal being a sandbox in a playground. It is innocent and not obvious. It possibly ties in to the Quote of Jesus: Except ye be converted, and become
as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. It also ties in with the sandbox as a metaphor for ideas and creativity. It was used in SPN before: Tessa Reaper in response to Dean 2.01 In My Time of Dying: “It’s my sandbox, I can make you see whatever I want.”
Hi Wednesday. As usual I enjoyed your review and I agreed with your assessment of this episode. It was stuffed with nonsensical plotting and dialogue, with just a few redeeming nuggets. I thought the best part of it (other than Sam’s wet hair :)) was Metatron. At least his words and actions were completely in keeping with his character, and as always I found him quite entertaining. For those reasons, I’d say he gets the Best Performance nod.
As far as the final scene between Dean and Claire, I think that the silence was OK, but maybe a head shake of disgust from Dean as he walked away would have accentuated how reprehensible Claire’s actions were.
I have to say that I found it very interesting that you did not like this episode yet you liked last week’s. To me, they are like matching bookends, and not just because both featured Claire. Almost nothing in TTWLB worked for me. Not the stereotypical damaged, sassy teenager, or the Randy plot, or the ending scene which I found ridiculously contrived and which featured some of the worst dialogue I’ve ever seen on SPN. That part where Sam holds Dean’s face and says “tell me you had to do this” was particularly awful IMO. But the worst was the scene in the bar where the brothers reminisced about the CBGB incident. Not one blessed thing in that scene rang true for me, for the reasons which spnlit and E laid out on another thread. I agree that that episode at least moved some of the stories forward, but I sure didn’t like how it accomplished it. So I found it very intriguing that you thought that episode was so much better than the Hunger Games. I do enjoy reading your take on the episodes. Even when I disagree, your analysis provides plenty of food for thought. Thanks for that!
I agree the two episodes were matching bookends. Difference is I would leave behind the entire TTWLB episode. For me, this one, HG could be reduced to excellence if we boil it down (think beaker in chem lab) to the MOC storyline only; Dean, Sam, Cas, Metatron. It was well acted, action packed, credible dialogue, and moved the story forward.
[quote] HG could be reduced to excellence if we boil it down (think beaker in chem lab)[/quote]
This might be true (although I think excellence is overstating it), but the problem is that the process of boiling it down creates a mess that leaves a horrible stink behind.:) I’m sorry and I hope you’re not offended spnlit, but when I read your chemistry analogy I couldn’t resist! 😀
Not offended and yes there is a parallel to the fact that if you have to strip away everything besides 15 minutes of action with your main characters then it could be a mess. I just enjoyed Dean’s role in this episode, Sam and Dean’s confrontation with Metatron and Cas blowing down the door.
[quote]Cas blowing down the door.[/quote]
I did really like that part. I even enjoyed how he shoved Sam aside to do it, and how he was so angry at Dean for beating Metatron. I miss forceful Cas!
[quote]Cas blowing down the door[/quote]
That brings up a future episode of SPN. The guys spending a weekend going around the Bunker repairing all the damage they’ve done. I mean they clearly have a hammer…..
The Hammer of Fratricide, I call it. Yes, they need to repair the hole in the wall from the hammer, the door Cas blew off, and whatever damage the Stynes did before Dean killed them. Then they’ll obviously need to repaint as well. There’s at least an episode or two in that!
I think Dean should have grabbed Claire by the throat, waved the axe in her face and snarled, “listen up sister, with this thing on my arm you’re damned lucky I didn’t gut you like a pig.” Then sent her on her way. That would have taught her a thing or two… stupid girl.
[quote]Dean should have grabbed Claire by the throat, waved the axe in her face and snarled, “listen up sister, with this thing on my arm you’re damned lucky I didn’t gut you like a pig.”[/quote]
That would have been more interesting than most of the dialogue in the episode! If in addition he’d actually smacked her around a little that would have been an honest to God sign that he was getting worse from the MOC. And it would have caused some interesting friction between Dean and Cas. Oh well, coulda woulda shoulda. Moving on to better things this season I hope.
I agree. We heard so often in season 10 that Dean was getting worse, that he was out of control, mostly from Sam, often from Cas, but from Rowena, and Metatron too. Even Dean was saying it, especially in this episode. Well, I just didn’t see it. To me the killing of Randy and his “friends” was in no way an indicator of Dean’s supposed instability. I could see Dean having done something like that even without the mark of Cain, especially considering that they attacked him first and gave him a head injury. Remember Dean and his intention to kill Max? Dean and the vampire? How was what he did in this episode any worse? At least if he’d really lit into Claire I could have bought it that Dean was in trouble. My initial desire was for Dean to kill Claire and then have that get between Dean and Cas. Now THAT would have been interesting and would have had the added bonus of removing Claire from the narrative. And can you imagine the guilt both Sam and Cas would have felt because they let Dean go there in the first place. This show has lost the guts it had under Kripke.
AND i thought grabbing the poor girl by the arm would have been too harsh for some viewers!!!!! You and BoGirle are right. Maybe Dean should have gotten rough with her because it was so asinine to send him out there to talk to her in the first place. Sam and Cas think Dean is SOOO Bad and he was in this episode then why send him out alone to talk to a Claire?
[b]Wednesday, now that I think further upon this scene,[/b] If I wrote the script, Dean would have exploded in anger towards the killers, throwing them around a bit more and attempting to kill them, Claire would have entered the scuffle to save them or stop the fight, [b]Claire would have been killed[/b] by her friends the killers. It would have accomplished a more credible end for Claire- instead of just walking away on her merry way after conspiring to commit homicide. Cas would really have had something to feel bad about as he contemplates the effect of angels taking human vessels and it would have added another consequence to the MOC.
Good Lord! Look who the episode was written by and you expected better? 😉 I liked the scene between Dean and Metatron and Sam and Cas at the playground, bunker and breaking into the dungeon. I liked Rowenas “eyes aloft” spell, thought that was pretty cool and well done. The Crowley, Rowena, Guthrie.. was okay. Cas and Claire were bearable. Hated the “two murderous bar buddies”. The shooting pool scene. Ugh. The camper scene. Urk. The park scene. Omg, what! Ridiculous premise, poorly written. Hated the “two murderous bar buddies are going to kill Dean Winchester in broad daylight while people are milling around” too. This type of writing borders on obscenity. It’s obscene that we as viewers are exposed to such drek penned by two supposed professionals. Oddly you have to wonder what the directors were doing in this particular scene. How did any of it that sense? My daughter could write a more concise story when she was five. I truly pray this pair steps up their game for Season 11. Somehow, I doubt it. It drives me insane how they are always given important myth arc episodes to write! I guess it’s good to be married to Bob Singer, right Eugenie?
As for Claire I don’t think she experienced the “longing” until after the park incident with Dean when she realized how wrong she was and had a change of heart.
Thought everyone did a great job with what they had. Hard to pick and although Metatron is just that guy you love to hate, you can’t deny Curtis did a wonderful job of conveying Metatron’s different emotions throughout.
I though that this episode was nearly unwatchable. I was desperately trying to wade through it for the second time during the re-airing and ended up putting huge sections of the episode on mute. So, going by which parts I actually felt compelled to listen to I am giving Curtis Armstrong the “most valuable player” award, as he was the only character I had any interest in at all. He’s incredibly dynamic as an actor and I found all of his scenes interesting, funnny and compelling. I get an almost giddy glee out of hating Metatron. That’s more that I can say for most of the rest of the stuff going on in this episode. And I literally wanted to bash my TV screen in over Claire. It actually makes me sad in a way; I think that Kathryn Humphries is probably a decent actress, she’s been showing some good range in her episodes. It’s just that pretty much everything about her character, her character’s situation, the dialogue, and the actions she takes is working against her. Claire is the most annoying, grating, ungrateful and mind blowingly obtuse character on this show. First of all, Claire had Cas inside her…. not for long, but she did in fact carry an angel inside her for a time. Does she remember nothing at all? Why is she so clueless about life and the Supernatural after an experience like that? And as a girl who carried an angel inside her and witnessed what went on between other angels and her father and demons, why is she making such moronic decisions? How did she get into a bar to enlist the help of random assassins anyway? Everything about her story was ludicrous and wildly improbable. Lots of this episode was wildly improbable; Dean goes to talk to Claire on his own after mowing down 5 people? Cas having sympathy for Randy? it was all so incredibly dumb. I feel so bad for the actors trying valiantly to slog through the clunkiest dialogue ever and kudos to John Badham for making SOMETHING out of that mess.
Having said all those scathing things there was one bit of something or other that was at least a little bit intriguing to me even though it ultimately ended up going nowhere. Rowena was clearly using her witchcraft on Crowley; using hex bags, infecting his dreams, going through his things, manipulating his lackeys, creating acute paranoia in him. That was pretty interesting. Then they went from Rowena influencing Crowley to the Mark influencing Dean in a move that I thought was very intriguing. They were on the doorstep of a terrific potential parallel between Rowena/Crowley and Mark/Dean. What a huge wasted opportunity it ended up being though. After the initial and barely there suggestion of a parallel the whole idea got dropped. It would have been fantastic to watch Rowena continue to actively manipulate Crowley in this way and then watch Dean slowly begin to subvert Sam and Cas because of the Mark. Why Dean wasn’t made more of an adversary to Sam/Cas or Sam/Cas more of an adversary to Dean is beyond me. And Rowena; it makes total sense that she was running spells on her son, but after this one episode did we see any indication of that from any of the other writers? Not that I can recall. Were we just supposed to remember that she was doing spells on him and assume that she still probably was? Nah, you see, that doesn’t work in written drama… if you are going to set something like that up, then it needs to continue to be evident, the level of manipulation needs to increase and become more insidious and dangerous, and then finally coming to an explosive conflict of some kind. But that didn’t happen. I am not sure that Crowley even knows for sure that his mother was hexing him. This shows without a shadow of a doubt that the writers are not in connection with one another about their scripts and that the show runner is not requiring or even encouraging that type of connection between the writers. If Supernatural was a serialized show like Law and Order then this kind of disconnect could work with each episode existing in its own bubble, but it’s television that’s episodic and multigenerational, with a complex mythology. The interconnectedness and clarity of the details of the story events is crucial to the shows success, and that interconnectedness has all but disappeared under Carver.
So thank you Wednesday. I appreciate your open and direct honesty and criticism of an episode that clearly did not work. I don’t want read a whole bunch of sugar coating of something that is essentially so inferior on it’s face. Thanks for telling it like it is.
1. Who should win “Best Performance” for this episode?
Tough call because it was not a good episode; I tried watching the repeat the other night and turned it off after 5 minutes; to be honest, I’m having this problem with trying to rewatch a lot of S10 episodes. If I had to pick, I’d say Dean – at least he was given something to work with.
MORE QUESTIONS
1. What should Dean and Claire have said to each other at the end?
Talk about Awkward with a capital A. That entire scene/setup was awkward and ill conceived to begin with, so probably best that everything was left unsaid.
2. Can you think of a better portal to heaven than a sandbox?
The sandbox thing worked for me.
I hear you. I haven’t re-watched a single episode this hiatus, and I can’t say I’ve been compelled to either. This season sucked for me so I’m not particularly interested in watching any of the episodes again.
[b]Tally So Far[/b] :
[b]Best Performance votes Metatron
[b]Heaven Portal Ideas[/b]: “Sandbox Stays the Same” .
[b]What should have been said[/b]: “nothing” (njspnfan)
A head shake of disgust and maybe smacked her around a little and/ or KILL HER (samandean10)
“Dean should have grabbed Claire by the throat, waved the axe in her face and snarled,
“listen up sister, with this thing on my arm you’re damned lucky I didn’t gut you like a pig.” Then sent her on her way.” BoGirle
“Look sweetheart, you think you know what this world
is about but going down the path to murder is a dead end. ” Claire says nothing. (spnlit)
.
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