Catching Up With... Supernatural
Jan. 31st, 2007 01:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
heidiSo about two weeks ago, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crossover_news did a big six week catchup on fics posted over the holidays, and there was a separate post with Supernatural crossovers. I've always loved crossovers in general, and I was kind of compelled to read some of them.
I read a Torchwood/Supernatural crossover where a time traveling demon sends Dean to some random planet where he randomly meets Jack Harkness, and very practical Smallville/Supernatural crossover where Dean is Jason is Dean. And then I read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
musesfool's crossover with Faith from Buffy, and a few Heroes-crossovers, and I realised that I'd probably like the show if I wasn't generally squicked by horror. I figured, though, hey, why not give one episode a try and see...
Oops.
All my principles about fic-reading? Gone. I started consuming fic, and the actual episodes of the show, in tandem. Thanks to iTunes and a massive download of all the eps from S2 (other than Croatoan, which for some reason isn't available on itunes), I'm all caught up on S2, but as of this past Saturday, I still was an almost complete blank on S1, which is a somewhat weird way to enjoy the show.
Last Saturday, my S1 dvds arrived, and I've started watching them (and, for no sane reason, mentally working through a Heroes/SPN crossover). Inspired byemmagrant01, I'm going to do minireviews of the eps here, mostly so I have a record of things as I'm watching them develop and theorize. I'll cut them for those who (a) aren't interested and (b) don't want to be spoiled because they're planning on catching up, too, sometime.
I love the way the brothers' relationship is set up, and that even before that, Sammy is in the middle of fun stuff at college, but even with Jessica, not really enmeshed into all of it. I've wondered whether he and Dean had been "undercover" like they are in so many of the eps, assuming roles and other personas, before he went to Stanford, because that would have probably eased the way for him to take on a persona at college in such a different environment than what he'd been used to.
One thing I found fascinating was the diametrical opposition between the opening scene/premise - about Mary dying to protect Sam, or because the demon wanted Sam - I can't really tell which yet, and if we actually learn in S1, don't tell me - and a mother who killed her children. I don't know how deliberate that was by Kripke, but it was a weird and unnerving contrast that put a lot of the Issues in the show on the table - most notably, the meaning of family and of home.
I still don't get why Dean came back in the end - did Sam have a psychic SOS call that Dean picked up on, or did the demon somehow send Dean back because he thinks mindgames on Winchesters is fun?
I am such an urban girl, I don't understand the purpose or point of camping. Yes, I know a lot of you like it, but after spending the summer when I was 10 at a summer camp where the showers had no hot water so we washed our hair in the lake, I am *so* over nature.
Again, the family+home theme shows up - Haley, who's lost her parents, considers her brothers of paramount importance - and Tommy, who seems to have a bit of an interest in going and doing something fun with friends - it seems a little illogical, as does dragging their youngest brother into the woods, but I guess if you've grown up camping, and have the cool gear, it's just a fun thing to do? : suspends judgment : I like the way they seem to intersect with "normal" families who either aren't actually normal at all because of Deep Secrets, or Magical Interaction. And given how Nightshifter ended, I'm sorta hoping that they get a chance to show the FBI all the people who can corroborate aspects of their history (unless, of course, the FBI is really a front for something else, or the demon, but now I'm getting into predicting more than reviewing and I'm probably jumping into the deep end too soon so I'll stop that line of thought now...
I think this is the first real "researchy" episode, isn't it? I love the geeking out aspect of this show - that there's so much they can get from books, and online, and on microfilm and in archival material, and the sekrit archive-girl in me loves it so much. It's a specific kind of detective-ing, and it's one thing that I loved about the Buffy high-school-era episodes and missed a bit in the later episodes when they're out of Giles' library (which gets blown up anyway, alas). Huzzah for reading!
It's also such a sad story - I don;t know if we're meant to think that the boys-who-are-now-fathers were evil when they were 12, or just meaner-than-normal little kids when they killed the boy and burried the bike, but they don't seem ubertormented by it until their families start becoming the victims. I'm still not sure, though, and would probably lean a lttle onto the not-evil side, despite the evilitude of the act. I love Dean's interaction with Lucas, and I think Amy Acker is terrific, but I don't know how Lucas and the Amy-character are going to continue on knowing that the little boy their grandfather/father killed was responsible for the death of their father/husband. Maybe they'll eventually be able to delude themselves (in a torchwood/doctor who-esque "the alien spaceships were mass halucinations!" sort of way) but it can't be an easy thing to cope with.
Quick note on the music - the weird thing is, after dating a few guys who liked That Sort of Music while I was growing up, it scares me that I still know so many of the lyrics, even though I don't personally enjoy listening to most of it. Heh, 70s and 80s.
I'm skipping Phantom Traveler until I get back from some actual airplane-traveling this weekend, so I'm skipping to DVD Disc 2 in the next SPN-catchup post, possibly tomorrow if I can force myself to watch an ep or two at the gym this afternoon.
: returns to real work
crossover_news did a big six week catchup on fics posted over the holidays, and there was a separate post with Supernatural crossovers. I've always loved crossovers in general, and I was kind of compelled to read some of them. I read a Torchwood/Supernatural crossover where a time traveling demon sends Dean to some random planet where he randomly meets Jack Harkness, and very practical Smallville/Supernatural crossover where Dean is Jason is Dean. And then I read
musesfool's crossover with Faith from Buffy, and a few Heroes-crossovers, and I realised that I'd probably like the show if I wasn't generally squicked by horror. I figured, though, hey, why not give one episode a try and see...Oops.
All my principles about fic-reading? Gone. I started consuming fic, and the actual episodes of the show, in tandem. Thanks to iTunes and a massive download of all the eps from S2 (other than Croatoan, which for some reason isn't available on itunes), I'm all caught up on S2, but as of this past Saturday, I still was an almost complete blank on S1, which is a somewhat weird way to enjoy the show.
Last Saturday, my S1 dvds arrived, and I've started watching them (and, for no sane reason, mentally working through a Heroes/SPN crossover). Inspired by
emmagrant01, I'm going to do minireviews of the eps here, mostly so I have a record of things as I'm watching them develop and theorize. I'll cut them for those who (a) aren't interested and (b) don't want to be spoiled because they're planning on catching up, too, sometime. I love the way the brothers' relationship is set up, and that even before that, Sammy is in the middle of fun stuff at college, but even with Jessica, not really enmeshed into all of it. I've wondered whether he and Dean had been "undercover" like they are in so many of the eps, assuming roles and other personas, before he went to Stanford, because that would have probably eased the way for him to take on a persona at college in such a different environment than what he'd been used to.
One thing I found fascinating was the diametrical opposition between the opening scene/premise - about Mary dying to protect Sam, or because the demon wanted Sam - I can't really tell which yet, and if we actually learn in S1, don't tell me - and a mother who killed her children. I don't know how deliberate that was by Kripke, but it was a weird and unnerving contrast that put a lot of the Issues in the show on the table - most notably, the meaning of family and of home.
I still don't get why Dean came back in the end - did Sam have a psychic SOS call that Dean picked up on, or did the demon somehow send Dean back because he thinks mindgames on Winchesters is fun?
I am such an urban girl, I don't understand the purpose or point of camping. Yes, I know a lot of you like it, but after spending the summer when I was 10 at a summer camp where the showers had no hot water so we washed our hair in the lake, I am *so* over nature.
Again, the family+home theme shows up - Haley, who's lost her parents, considers her brothers of paramount importance - and Tommy, who seems to have a bit of an interest in going and doing something fun with friends - it seems a little illogical, as does dragging their youngest brother into the woods, but I guess if you've grown up camping, and have the cool gear, it's just a fun thing to do? : suspends judgment : I like the way they seem to intersect with "normal" families who either aren't actually normal at all because of Deep Secrets, or Magical Interaction. And given how Nightshifter ended, I'm sorta hoping that they get a chance to show the FBI all the people who can corroborate aspects of their history (unless, of course, the FBI is really a front for something else, or the demon, but now I'm getting into predicting more than reviewing and I'm probably jumping into the deep end too soon so I'll stop that line of thought now...
I think this is the first real "researchy" episode, isn't it? I love the geeking out aspect of this show - that there's so much they can get from books, and online, and on microfilm and in archival material, and the sekrit archive-girl in me loves it so much. It's a specific kind of detective-ing, and it's one thing that I loved about the Buffy high-school-era episodes and missed a bit in the later episodes when they're out of Giles' library (which gets blown up anyway, alas). Huzzah for reading!
It's also such a sad story - I don;t know if we're meant to think that the boys-who-are-now-fathers were evil when they were 12, or just meaner-than-normal little kids when they killed the boy and burried the bike, but they don't seem ubertormented by it until their families start becoming the victims. I'm still not sure, though, and would probably lean a lttle onto the not-evil side, despite the evilitude of the act. I love Dean's interaction with Lucas, and I think Amy Acker is terrific, but I don't know how Lucas and the Amy-character are going to continue on knowing that the little boy their grandfather/father killed was responsible for the death of their father/husband. Maybe they'll eventually be able to delude themselves (in a torchwood/doctor who-esque "the alien spaceships were mass halucinations!" sort of way) but it can't be an easy thing to cope with.
Quick note on the music - the weird thing is, after dating a few guys who liked That Sort of Music while I was growing up, it scares me that I still know so many of the lyrics, even though I don't personally enjoy listening to most of it. Heh, 70s and 80s.
I'm skipping Phantom Traveler until I get back from some actual airplane-traveling this weekend, so I'm skipping to DVD Disc 2 in the next SPN-catchup post, possibly tomorrow if I can force myself to watch an ep or two at the gym this afternoon.
: returns to real work
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 07:31 pm (UTC)Watch the deleted scenes - Dean's watch stops, so he turns back around because that's a sign of supernatural activity or whatever.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 07:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 07:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 08:01 pm (UTC): downloads
I'm sure, though, that this week's ep won't be up before I leave for NY on Friday morning, though, alas, so no repeat-viewings until I get home.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 08:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 08:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 09:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 09:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 08:35 pm (UTC)P.S. I love that you're getting into this. I actually started reading SPN fic before I had seen any of it, so I know what that's like.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-31 08:53 pm (UTC)And ya know, I'd never really thought about the juxtaposition of Mary Winchester and Constance Welch in the Pilot. *ponders* Thanks for pointing that out.
Anyway, I'm so happy to see more people getting into this show. It's so much more than a horror movie because it's themes of family, sacrifice, love, etc are what really drives it. It's struggling to stay alive because it's in the hardest time slot in television (right across from Grey's and CSI on Thursdays) and so every new viewer helps. Also, the SPN fandom has some of the most amazing, talented writers I've ever seen in one fandom before.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 01:40 am (UTC)Welcome to the fold!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 03:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 07:07 am (UTC)yay for catching up with the SPN! I, too, started by being interested in 'fic, and then was pushed in the water by a friend and haven't gotten out of the pool since.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-08 06:22 am (UTC)