Warning: I did not like this week's episode. Usually I subscribe to a strict if I have don't have anything nice to write, I don't write anything about a series. Hence why this season of The Big Bang Theory while watched has been silent on the review/recap front. The difference tonight is that I happen to love Supernatural. It's been a firm favorite of mine since I started watching way back at the season two opener In My Time of Dying but this week something has to be done. maybe it will convince the writers to stop with the"
Ghostchaser"s and "
Season Seven, Time for a Wedding"s.Maybe it won't but tonight I declare this post a haven for all those who were less than awed by tonight's episode and for all those severly tired of the "found footage" movement.Without further ado...
Supernatural this week opens to a room covered in blood. Sam and Dean walk in the front door to investigate. Dean takes the rubbish music off the iPod dock, “Well whatever happened, looks like we missed it.” Then he finds a laptop with a red sticky note on it; “Play Me.”
“This never should have ended this way...” The footage is shown and it’s a found footage video taken by a couple of college guys. One of the girls they were spying on comes over with her own camera and guy 1 apologizes for his “dick move”. Luckily for him she has a thing for guys with cool cameras. They hook up and the next guy the girl talks to guy 2. After some more of that, they cut to a lecture on Lord of the Flies. Found footage and
Lord of the Flies? Who raided my least favorite collection for tonight’s episode? The dicks with the camera make fun of Sam and Dean as they pull up in the Impala calling them
Starsky and Hutch and then
Rizzoli and Isles. Later after more found footage-y things they spy on Dean and Sam some more with guy 1 saying he’s feeling a workplace romance between the duo.
Running in the forest later with night vision settings Guy 1 is attacked by what sounds like a werewolf. The bite on Guy 1 has completely disappeared later that night. Being dumb college kids, the first thing Guy 1 does with his new found strength is lift his girlfriend above his head and then again but with only one hand. Guy 2 is determined to get Guy 1’s origin story on camera. Guy 2 correctly realizes that he’s Piggy from
Lord of the Flies and also realizes that he doesn’t want to be Piggy. I wonder why... Sam and Dean come by with the usual interrogation questions and Guy 2 pretends to be a dumbass kid. Outside but still filmed, Sam thinks that it might be another Mayan god. Which of course since the Terrible Trio overheard this now think Guy 1 is going to be a “Golden God”. Guy 1 repeats this to himself and then the transformation begins. Yep, called it teenage werewolf. He creepily stroke the face of his girlfriend before going to the kitchen for some beer and junk food. He soon turns stir crazy and we’re introduced to more kids who think they’re going to be monster hunters not realizing what they’re up against.
The Trio go over the footage and... get nowhere. Guy 1 ate one of the dude’s hearts from last night. He cries over not knowing who he is anymore and the Girl tells him he’s hers. Our Dynamic Duo find a previous set of killings and mention this is not a werewolf. Wrong time of the month apparently. The Guys are starting to creep each other out and why are Brian’s always go with computers? Sam and Dean think it is a werewolf but one four generations removed from the Alpha. Guy 2 goes to confront
Lord of the Flies Professor about being a werewolf. How is this only half way in?!? I
take it back, I’d rather listen to Sam threatening to quit.
The Professor plays that he doesn’t know what Guy 2 is talking about by after he attacks the Prof he says that once you taste a human heart you never go back and last week he fell off the wagon. So Guy 2 gets his wish and Guy 1 asks what’s wrong with him for doing it. Guy 2 turns into a stereotypical meek-guy-gone-bad as Guy 1 tells him someone saw the camera and will trace it back to him. He doesn’t care. Guy 1 is tragically killed in a case of betrayal with the Girl yelling his name. (His real name not just Guy 1)
Forty-three minutes and I figured out how to add a photo to Disqus. Alright I probably could have committed a little more to the recap but this episode is the equivalent of last season’s Becky episode (Season Seven, Time For a Wedding. Fun title; dull episode). Now Guy 2 wants to turn the girl and she’s whimpering and screaming louder than everyone in the
Scream films. Yikes. The Girl tells the camera that she didn’t finish Guy 2’s movie to Justify either’s actions (sorry capitalization is a force of habit) but to explain it. She says she doesn’t really understand what happened. She tells the camera that she intends to never hurt anyone and that she didn’t chose it. Finally the film ends. Sam and Dean take a moment to process it before the ever present commercials break it.
And now fifty-four minutes into the broadcast, they run the credits. Sam wants to go after the Girl (Kate) but Dean wants to give her the benefit of the doubt. Sam plugs the iPod back in and we see Kate getting off of a truck somewhere and walking along the railroad tracks into her new life.
Next week: We get a plot worthy of the show with Sam and Dean coming to a disagreement over vampire Benny. (Still not
capitalized.)
IMO, this ep has usurped Bugs, S7 Time for a Wedding, Swap Meat, etc., for the *worst* ep of Supernatural ever. I tuned in to see Sam & Dean, not a group of characters with whom I had no connection or emotional resonance. I didn't care what happened to them, and by the time I was 20 minutes in, I just wanted it to be OVER. Also, I think it was a very bad call to use an entire episode just to set up Dean's second thoughts about going after a monster. They could have done that in a tag scene. *shakes head* Awful. Just awful.
ReplyDeleteI am sincerely glad that this review isnt trying to sugar coat this train wreck.
ReplyDeleteThis was a MISTAKE by the showrunner to OK this idea/script.
Personally I liked S7TFAW last year, but I'm a male, so Becky doesnt anger me as much as most of the fangirls.
This though. This was utter garbage.
I can live w/o Sam & Dean for extended periods of screen time. Thats fine. But you need to bridge those gaps with characters people know. Cas, Crowley, Kevin, Benny, Meg, Garth, I dont care who...just someone we know. This didnt have that. That was a bigger failure on the writers part than anything, to not slide 1 or more of them in for a couple minutes here or there to bidge the gaps.
it is disappointing when you tune into watch Sam and Dean and you get very little "Sam and Dean" time. But this episode is an episode that will I am sure set up a bigger story arch to come.
ReplyDeleteI thought Dean plugged the IPod back in....Sam took the computer
ReplyDeleteI liked it! It was new and interesting! I'm ok with switching the format up! With 150+ episodes, sometimes you have to do that to keep things interesting. I thought it was a nice change of pace.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to watch the episode again *shudder* before I proclaim it worse than Bugs, but it was definitely bottom 3 of all time for me. I'd like to forget this week ever happened.
ReplyDeleteI did not find it to be that bad, actually. It was better than many Meta's they have done. I like that Dean let her go
ReplyDeleteI agree with nearly everything you said butnI have to at least put in a mention that I liked Bugs.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I agree this episode could have been a lot better if there was at least one familiar face in it. Hopefully they stop doing episodes like this?
ReplyDeleteOf course Dean let her go .Dean decides who lives and who gets killed by depending on what story they are setting up .
ReplyDeleteA lot of people missing the whole point to this episode and I think that is why people didn't like it. Had they shot this like a normal Supernatural episode it just wouldn't have had the same effect.
ReplyDeleteCorrection. Dean plugs the ipod back in.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind it that much. It was different but it wasn't bad. I wasn't Supernatural and I probably won't watch it again. But it wasn't as bad as Time for a Wedding. I'm sad that it's getting such horrible reviews after the first three episodes were so good :( Hopefully next week makes up for it.
ReplyDeleteThis episode was fucking gay as fuck!!!!!! Definitely the worse! Oh great so it turned out the guy dean came back with was a vampire?! Really? With all the possibilities of (unknown) monsters..that guys has to be a vampire -___-
ReplyDeleteWhat was the point of the episode?
ReplyDeleteSupernatural on Halloween week? How could they go wrong? :)
ReplyDeleteI don't mind Bugs and I actually enjoyed S7TFAW. But this was dull, dull, dull. We don't know these people so why should I invest 40 mins of my life in them? I tune in to see Sam and Dean. Not some randomers filming themselves. Its like they got caught up in the cleverness of the idea, but it just didn't work. If it had been a small part of the ep, as a way of setting them up to hunt the girl. Then they find her - cue moral crisis about how to deal with her. That would have been much better. To have a whole Sam and Dean (almost) free ep just 4 eps in was a huge misjudgement.
ReplyDeleteI was already worried about s8. Sam is so ooc we are in jump-the-shark territory. The relationship feels cold and 'off' somehow. Like Sam doesn't even seem happy he is back and Dean is weirdly gung ho. The pacing isn't good - with the placement of this ep being a case in point.
I think I'll just forget this ep ever happened.
I'm worried what all the new folks tuning in after Arrow will make of it though. I think we'll see a big drop off in the 2nd half hour ratings and a drop next week.
Honestly, I enjoyed the episode. Normally I don't bother commenting on reviews for SPN but I feel as if this one got the short end of the stick. Yes, it was different and yes it didn't feature Sam and Dean as much as fans would like, but it wasn't nearly the train wreck that TFAW was. The point it was trying to make was the change in Dean's behavior concerning how he views monsters. That all don't necessarily need killing, simply because of their nature. People, and supernatural creatures alike, can change.(aka Benny). Overall it was a solid ep, at least for me.
ReplyDeleteI've been a fan of Supenatural since the first episode of the first season and like many other fans I've seen my fair share of bad episodes, but this one takes the cake. I had no problem with the Sam and Dean cameos in this episode, my problem with it was with the story.
ReplyDeleteThe idea in general would have worked if the writing was up to par with it. The character were predictable and less than mid-way through the episode you already knew what each character was going to do.
Again this episode would have work, because the idea of seeing it through the eyes of the victims/monsters instead of through the eyes of the Winchester brothers is quite interesting, but the plot was very dull so that bored me. In all honesty I only watched it because I'm a fan of the series, but I would just skip this episode.
Right, Dean glances around, then plugs the Ipod back in... Sam was already out the door.
ReplyDeleteI liked Bugs too. :) The only rough patch was the too short night
ReplyDeleteI don't think that people didn't like it because they missed the point. I
ReplyDeletegot that the writers were trying to convey the process of how some
people become monsters (that not everybody chooses it and therefore they
wanted to make you question that because of that-to what degree are
they actually the monsters they've actually become). That was one point,
plus that Dean's changed somewhat and was willing to let the girl try
to go.
But I think that they actually could have gotten the
points across much more effectively using different methods. First of
all I think that they should have introduced a monster over several
episodes. One that we would come to care about-for example he or she
could help the boys or something (I think it was a big mistake to use
three characters we didn't know or care about).
Then there could
come a point when Sam or Dean would have to question whether to kill the
monster or let him/her for some reason. Then the story of how they
became a monster could be told in flashbacks. They could even bring back
Bobby (and maybe Rufus) as the hunter(s) that worked the original case
and Sam and Dean could be included in the episode by confirming things
in a journal that Bobby had kept.
Anyway that's just my opinion
of one idea of how they could have accomplished the same exact points
that they did in tonight's episodes, but make it more entertaining and
appealing to the fans.
I'm still all for giving this season the benefit of the doubt, I still have high hopes for it. So they tried something new, so alot of people didn't like it. I liked this episode, I also like the Ghostfacers [I actually wish they'd bring them back, just once, I'm curious as to watch they've been up to the past 3 years. Have they given up on searching for ghosts? I also liked Season Seven, Time for a Wedding! Both shows were aimed at making up laugh, but also had a bit of seriousness in them. They played with the brother's bond, Dean's time almost running out, and... well I don't really know what was the serious 'theme' of S7TFAW....
ReplyDeleteI really don't like the whole 'found footage' style, but I did enjoy this episode. I won't go as far as to say it is one of my favorites... but I won't call it one of the worst SPN episodes either. I liked the characters, I enjoyed hearing the 'monsters' side of the story... and I liked the Pureblood [another sympathetic character].
There is only one thing I don't like about this season, and it is the lack of relationship between the brothers. Alot of fans say they tense, but I see a total lack of emotion. It seems the team is too busy with unrolling the plot of the season, with the monster of the day, with Dean and/or Sam's flashback, and with how Dean and/or Sam is affected by his past [the flashback] in present time, to deal with the brothers' emotions. Most SPN fans can tell when the brothers act out of character, and I think both Sam and Dean are acting very out of character with each other. Maybe it will be explained later in the season, perhaps with more flashbacks? Like I said before, I still have hope for the season... I just like to know why the brothers are acting as they are, if there is a reason behind it, or if it is just carelessness on the writers' part for trying to get too much through in one 40min episode.
" There is only one thing I don't like about this season, and it is the lack of relationship between the brothers. Alot of fans say they tense, but I see a total lack of emotion. It seems the team is too busy with unrolling the plot of the season, with the monster of the day, with Dean and/or Sam's flashback, and with how Dean and/or Sam is affected by his past [the flashback] in present time, to deal with the brothers' emotions. Most SPN fans can tell when the brothers act out of character, and I think both Sam and Dean are acting very out of character with each other. Maybe it will be explained later in the season, perhaps with more flashbacks? Like I said before, I still have hope for the season... I just like to know why the brothers are acting as they are, if there is a reason behind it, or if it is just carelessness on the writers' part for trying to get too much through in one 40min episode"
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with this. Their relationship seems to me to be not given a high priority by the writers. I agree it lacks emotion. They are cold with each other and nowhere near as happy to be reunited as they should be given they had lost each other for a year - both believing they'd never see each other again. It is so depressing to watch. I also agree that both - although particularly Sam (as IF he wouldn't look for Dean) - are acting out of character.
They need to get back on track soon. I am losing patience with s8.
Maybe to use up the extra ep they were given, it is not one I will ever watch again. ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm a fangirl and I liked Time for a Wedding, but this one seemed like they just needed to use up the extra ep they were given.
ReplyDeleteThe only eps I have liked less than this train wreck are anything with Ghostfacers, to me there is nothing funny about them. They almost ruined It's A Terrible Life for me, but I just FF thru that part. I even liked Bugs and Time For A Wedding MUCH better than this one.
ReplyDeletei like the ghostfacers and i did enjoy this episode. i wouldn't put it in my all time favourite basket but i liked it. i found a lot more both enjoyable and tolerable than season seven time for a wedding which ii will never really get the humour of. i don't think there was anything really wrong with this episode except maybe for what everyone is calling the "found footage" part. but i thought the footage itself was actually great
ReplyDeleteI liked this episode fine. It was different all the way around. I have never watched a "found footage" anything, so it was new and different to me. Is this my favorite episode? Not by a long shot, but it's season eight and I understand why they want to change things up a little bit. To me this is nothing like Ghostfacers (which I don't like) except for the hand-held cameras. Ghostfacers is supposed to be funny, which it isn't. This is supposed to be about what it feels like to be turned into a monster without asking for it (in 2 of 3 cases) and how that affects everyone. Kudos to the writers for doing something different.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I'll be ready for it again when the DVD comes out.... I would rather them have a slightly shorter season but quality episodes if this is the sort of filler they write given the choice.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking how sad it was for the writers to throw away an episode like that.
ReplyDeleteIf they had wanted to give us a monster's view-point on it all, that could even have been a good idea for an episode.
They could have taken a shape-shifter or whatever, and given us one of his typical days; what goes through his mind, how he chooses his victims, why he needs to kill, etc, finishing off with him spotting Sam and Dean, hunters who arrive to kill him.
Or even better they could have given us a whole Sam back-story episode, letting us get a glimpse of what he is thinking and going through, because four episodes in we really know nothing about what's going on in his mind, other than the repeated harping on about wanting normal.
I'm really sorry that this episode has been such a waste, for every episode of SPN is precious, and it doesn't bode well for the future creative talents of the writing team
@isleofskye:disqus Maybe they should have consulted you. You seem to have much better ideas of how it shuld be done :) And I agree, every episode of Supernatural is precious which is why when they're bad it's such a big deal.
ReplyDeleteFor me, this was the first episode in a long time that made me feel tense and scared. I thought it was fantastic to see something from the monster's point of view, and I love how much of a major theme they're making the humanity of monsters this season.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think Kate was too screamy/whimpery at all, but I've seen a couple of people say that, and I'm confused as to where that's coming from. Honestly, it strikes me as something that's subconsciously sexist - dismissing the female as too whiny, or whatever.
Towards the end of season 7, the show began to feel very much ungrounded and unreal to me. When everything that happens just revolves around Sam and Dean, it makes the constructed nature of the story very apparent, it wipes away suspension of disbelief, and really took me out of the story. I thought that this episode really helped restore the sense that Sam and Dean's story is grounded in a broader world, populated by characters, not props.
It seems like they're doing something closer to that with Benny.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me more as sexist, as a female, that the women should always have to scream on TV or in horror films. Why do we never see men scream unless they are the effeminate ones? To only have the women scream in a series, which is one of this shows few faults, IS sexist in and of itself. A truer test of it would be if the jocks screamed and it was presented as a normal reaction as opposed to something "weak" and "female". There's a reason that people never say "you throw like a boy" as an insult and stereotypes like the screaming woman in a horror film do not help.
ReplyDeletei didn't watch SPN last night. :( This is the first season I haven't actively made sure to watch it live (mostly because of school and work and life in general) but I will be sure to watch it to see if it is as good/bad as people are saying this episode is. I'm not very fond of these episodes...This falls into the "crap, another schtick episode..." pile...so we'll see I suppose when I finally get to see it on my DVR.
ReplyDeleteThis has always been one of my pet peeves also, always the screaming girl/woman. Not just in SPN but all shows. Another gripe is a huge fight and the characters end up not marked..this does not happen in SPN, they keep their cuts and bruises and you can even see them healing as time passes. Makes the fights seem more "real".
ReplyDeleteBe sure to tell me what you think when you see the most polarizing
ReplyDeleteepisode this season. I'll be interested to hear what you thought of it.
There have been a bunch of eps with people getting unwittingly and/or unwilling turned into monsters. To take werewolves specifically, there was Madison and her neighbour in S2 Heart. So this was unoriginal on both counts. Plus Sam has struggled from S1 onwards with various 'monstrous' afflictions going from being handpicked by the yellow-eyed demon, to the demon blood affliction, to being soulless, then being mindless, and so on. This ep was anything BUT different. It was definitely AWFUL, though.
ReplyDeleteSuper idea with the shapeshifter. I too regret the waste of an entire episode.
ReplyDeleteLet me summarize this episode for you, spoiler alert.
ReplyDeleteBlood. There's a case. Kids with cameras. Blah blah blah blah blah screaming blah blah teenage drama girlfriend boyfriend I'm the weird kid blah blah blah BLAAARRRRGHHHHH. Lots of staring at mirrors. Bad werewolf teacher. Blah blah blah. The guys get killed. The girl lives. Sam and Dean.
Don't know those characters. Don't want to know those characters. Don't like teenage love triangle stories. Don't like teen anst stories. Way too much jumping camera and weird camera angles. I don't mind Sam/Dean-lite stories when they are well done. This one was dull, boring, and unengaging and had nothing to do with anything. Sure, it was an outsiders POV episode, but we learned nothing about the Winchesters. Robbie Thompson is a talented writer, but he has yet to prove that he has an interest in the Winchesters or can write them. When I see his name on an episode, I know the focus will be on the support characters...and that is disappointing.
ReplyDeleteagreed. agreed. agreed. agreed!
ReplyDelete...by the way, I agree.
I just want to thank you even more for this review.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading other recaps on different sites and I can't believe how sweetly cloyingly postive they are, praising this episode as if it was a gift to Mankind; so thanks again for having the sincerity to call it as you saw it. :)
I read the comments on Facebook, and I think some of the fans are so obsessed about the show that they can't think for themselves. It's fine if you really liked this episode, but most of them seem to also want to give them a gold star for "trying"... This is the 8th season people, they should have known better.
ReplyDeleteAnd my final opinion on this matter? The HEART was missing in this episode. I felt more sympathy towards Sam's dog than these people. That's ultimately why I disliked this episode so much. Give me a good story with likable characters and I won't even notice that the main characters are missing.
No problem. I figure it does nobody any good if one tries to sugarcoat a bad episode.
ReplyDelete