[Note: The CW reception was so broken and problematic last night, I missed a lot of The Flash and most of Supernatural. So here’s a rundown of last week’s Supernatural.]
Dean, Baby, and Gordon LIghtfoot: What a trio!
200th episodes are a Big Deal. I was an avid Benjamin Bratt fan when Law & Order ran its 200th episode. The fabulous Jerry Orbach was still alive to sell memorabilia on HSN (yes, I bought a couple items), and Julia Roberts guest starred, for wage. (It was a deal Bratt struck with producer Dick Wolf to cancel his contract.) But I digress.
Supernatural is great at making fun of itself, and many of my favorite episodes are the humorous ones. The premise of Supernatural as a musical performed by an all-girls (of course!) high school sounded super cheesy, but the songs were actually good, the singing superb (Well done, casting directors!), and there was emotion behind the humor.
Bwah! Jared’s so tall, he can’t all fit in the photo.
Although neither of them consider themselves comedic actors, both Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki have impeccable comic timing. Sam’s frightened look when stage Sam and Dean show their FBI badges, Dean’s exasperated look into the camera. Ha! But Eric Kripke built Supernatural on the idea of family, and it’s hung together over the years courtesy of Jensen’s and Jared’s brotherly chemistry.
Just one title sequence wouldn’t do for the 200th episode. Those from seasons 1, 2, 3, 5 (or was it 6? or both?), 9, and 10 appeared; as well as take-offs of Bonanza (“Frontierland”), The X-Files (“Clap Your Hands If You Believe”) , and Warner Brothers’ 1930’s black & white films (“Monster Movie”); not to mention the good (“Meta Fiction”), the bad (that horrible wedding episode), and the wonderful (the Christmas episode.) What does that make? At least 12, and only one clunker in the bunch.
No day but today!
Then there was Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown.” Gordon Lightfoot! Granted, it’s not really classic rock, but it fit with the musical’s style. Besides, I love Gordon Lightfoot!
And a whole lot more:
- “We’ve got work to do.” Thank you for the homage to the pilot and the season 2 finale.
- “Jerk.” “Bitch.” That’s “I love you” in Winchester-ese.
- Dean takes over the pre-show pep-talk, much as he did in “LARP and the Real Girl,” and quotes my second favorite musical* in lieu of Braveheart.
- The amulet (sort of) reappeared! Even better, Dean’s response, “I don’t need a symbol to remind me of how I feel about my brother.”
- The beautiful rendition of “Carry On, My Wayward Son,” thus guaranteeing the episode will remain on my DVR for months to come.
- And Chuck! (Rob Benedict is looking great, by the way.) Did Marie recognize him as Carver Edlund?
What were your highlights of “Fan Fiction”? Or lowlights?
*That would be Rent, South Pacific being my favorite.
SciFi Chick (s) 
You pretty much hit it all!
Oh, there was the moment they said Sam and Dean were too old to be Sam and Dean, that they had more of a Bobby/Rufus vibe. LOL
“Who’s that?” when Adam came out, causing a pang of guilt for the boys. Some recapper said “can we please go rescue Adam now?” but that’s naive. The only one who could do that would be Cas, and it went WAY wrong with Sam and would probably go wrong-er with Adam, after so many years of being in the middle of the Michael-Lucifer battle. Still, the reference, the reminder that they’ve let Adam sink into the recesses of their memories, was good.
You hit two more great things. I was actually glad they mentioned Adam. He’s kind of been forgotten, although I had thought of him a couple times.
The Bobby/Rufus vibe was hilarious. Goes to show how distorted the impressions of the young are. But it fits with Supernatural‘s ageism. Another recapper mentioned Sam’s aversion to the not-all-that-older cougar in this week’s episode. Apparently the actress is only 10 years older than Jared. But then Hollywood is the worst with sexist ageism. I think I read somewhere that the actress who played the mother in The (original) Manchurian Candidate was actually younger than the star. 😮 😡
getting off soapbox now
Can’t argue with Hollywood’s sexist ageism in general. But with this particular story, I’m not sure that’s where that came from. These girls are in their teens, and it’s typical for teens to think anyone over 30 is old. Plus, they only know the books, in which the boys are 23-28 and 26-31. Sam and Dean at the musical were 5 years older than that. So to me, it plays naturally.
In last night’s episode, I took Sam’s aversion to be about the icky predatory nature of the come-ons. The actress might have been only 10 years old, but I took her to be way older than that (I think she was made up to be that way.) Sam is, in general, very uncomfortable with sexual approaches to him, no matter what the age. Even when he’s actually attracted to the person, i.e. Madison. Dean was all for it! He’d have taken either one and was pleased by the attention, which kind of cancels it out. 🙂
Angelina Jolie playing Colin Farrell’s mother was a reverse age, too (Alexander? Not sure–didn’t see it). And Spock’s mom (Winona Ryder) in Star Trek wasn’t old enough, either, though they at least tried to make her look aged. 🙂
“These girls are in their teens, and it’s typical for teens to think anyone over 30 is old. ”
That’s what I meant to say about the teens. 🙂 But I digressed, didn’t I?
In my defense (hee), I hadn’t watched this week’s episode when I replied. I had just read a recap with those comments and then stared on then launched into my diatribe. It wasn’t as bad as it had been depicted, and it was played for laughs. But I do tend to stand on my soapbox when discussing age. Probably because of my own. 😉
Oh, I totally get where you’re coming from. I’m in that weird between place (too old to think like the young, not old enough to think like the wise) but I’ve always hated age cliches just like I hate gender bias. Like the whole “senior moment” thing. My mom left her coffee mug in the microwave all the time, and then forgot about it. She blamed it on age, and it drove me INSANE. She was 38! I was 18 and would scold the hell out of her. LOL It’s because she was BUSY and HARD WORKING, not because she had DEMENTIA.
Whew, talk about digression. LOL Anyway, I tend to see things specifically rather than globally, while other people tend to do the opposite. I knew you hadn’t seen it yet and were going by other people’s comments, so I was writing more in an attempt to reassure than argue (though intent is so hard to read online!). 🙂