SPN Georg

And we’re back to mytharc! What’s the point of this episode? What have we learned other than that Dean can’t even imagine a life for himself out beyond hunting, and that Sam can’t even imagine a life for himself where he continues to hunt? Well, for one thing, we learn that Dean also has very little faith in his own abilities as a hunter and is still conditioned to defer to John’s orders, even when those orders seemingly nearly got them killed by their own ignorance of what John should’ve told them.

After I finished recording this one, it hit me that like in Home, John was already in town, watching them, waiting like Sam was to see what entity Meg would summon in case it was the demon that killed Mary and Jess. So... if that’s true... John was really prepared to use Sam and Dean as bait for this thing... which is so entirely unsurprising at the same time its entirely infuriating. Father of the year, he was. >.>

Things referenced in this episode, in addition to my tag for it include:

The Superwiki page for this episode

This specific post about the diamond pattern bedspread

This other specific post about diamond patterns in general

I was gonna add in a few choice posts from my John tag, but fell down a ragey rabbit hole and had to stop looking down there :'D

Here we are, our very first entirely human bad guys, no supernatural connections at all. They don’t have a reaper on a leash or an old god in an orchard they sacrifice people to. Not even the angry spirits of the many people they’d hunted over the years. Just... really awful people. :’D

In Dean’s words from this episode: demons I get, people are crazy.

I mention in the podcast that this episode has themes taken from Deliverance (about psycho redneck hillbillies hunting people... “looking for love in all the wrong places,” as Jenkins says in this episode), from a short story called The Most Dangerous Game (about a super rich dude who hunts people), and a group of serial killers who lived on the Kansas prairie back in the 1870′s who were known as the Bloody Benders.

Also referenced in this episode is the Superwiki page for The Benders, and my tag for the episode, and I’ll throw in my tag for “demons I get people are crazy,” which is where I filed a lot of “humans are the vilest monsters” meta over the years.

Remember folks: if you have to bend over to look under your car in a creepy parking lot late at night, always stay a few feet back out of grabbing range of skeevy murdery dudes. Can’t believe this isn’t common knowledge. :’D

Sam’s the one having nightmares, but at least he has Dean to support him through it. It’s far more than Dean himself has ever had. Yes, another episode where something supernatural happens to Sam, and we the audience understand and relate to the supernatural difficulty through the filter of Dean’s perceptions, reactions, and emotions.

We also get to feel righteously judgmental toward John Winchester, righteously heartbroken over Dean’s entire life, and speculatively side-eye-y toward Chuck in the distant future. I mean, why is any of this happening to the Winchesters (or in this episode, to the Miller family) at all? Hmmm

Links and resources I reference in this week’s episode include:

The production draft script

The link to the Superwiki page for this episode

my tag for this episode

We’re gonna be going through the draft script of the episode and playing compare/contrast to the aired version on the discord server this week. If you’re interested in joining us, please send me a message and I’ll send a link. :)

Yeah, I'm even gonna take the slightly cringe episodes seriously, at least for my purposes of character analysis. And while the racist truck is basically a slow-motion car crash, so are my feelings for what is revealed about Dean in this episode.

Even with my sad Dean feels, a segment at the beginning of the episode I took to explain how I think of Death's role in the cosmic structure of the Supernatural universe, AND a long and slightly rambling story in the outro, this one still clocks in at under an hour. Totally not surprised, but it's also a weirdly a refreshing break for me! It's a lot easier to edit myself when I'm not concerned about how long the final product is going to be. :'D

Hopefully some of the background info on how this episode came to be in the first place might at least help others over the hurdle of looking too closely at the overall plot, and at least be able to take away some wonderful understanding of Dean's past and why he shields himself so much when it comes to opening up to and trusting people with the depth of his love for them.

Things I refer to in this episode include:

The Superwiki page for this episode

The full studio draft of the script for this episode

And even though there's only a few pages of posts there, my tag for this episode

Drive carefully! :D

So we're officially here, the first episode that I had to stop and stare at a wall for a few minutes and then immediately go back and watch it again. I had been enjoying the show before this. It felt like a fun little adventure story about chasing a mysterious monster that had altered their lives forever, seeking revenge and answers and trying to find their father. But this episode? This changed things for me, far more than Home even did.

Maybe I just have a thing for Capital-D Death, in a cosmic sense. Then again, so much of later canon about God and faith and life and death (and Death) only serves to make this episode stronger in retrospect. And in some ways way more painful! Wheee! >.>

I've personally started to think of this episode as Chuck having discovered the Trolley Problem and wondering how to make it work as an overall life choice. Though he takes it to entirely new levels, and had been since the beginning of creation.

Things I reference in this week's episode include:

A Spiders George post I wrote the first time I watched this episode post-14.20, and the Big Chuck Reveal

My general tag for this episode

The Superwiki entry for this episode

The script (NOT a transcript, the actual script) for this episode

This week we get to talk about a lot of firsts... the first time we get to see Sam speak to John in canon! The first time we meet Meg! The first time Dean is denied a slice of pie! Wheee!

(and I only get a little bit mad about the finale like... twice... maybe three times... >.>)

Seriously though, there is a lot going on in this episode, big themes that will carry throughout the series about sacrifice, family, and what we do for selfish reasons versus selfless reasons. Have some fun links! I should probably post an apple pie recipe too, but my grandmother’s ghost would probably throttle me for publishing it anywhere :’D

My tag for this episode

The Superwiki page for this episode

Hello again! Join me on an adventure in being eminently frustrated with Sam!

I mean, I feel for him, I get his frustration, but this feels like the first time he's ever really been confronted with the position that Dean's been in since he was four regarding John. He just lacks any sort of coping mechanism for dealing with it...

(unless you’re someone who totally relates to Sam in this episode, because honestly I am entirely baffled... I’m eager to understand, if that’s possible)

Links referenced in this weeks’ episode include (as usual) the Superwiki page for this episode (the link to the actual script can be found at the very bottom of that page, below the link to the transcript)

The link to the specific meta post I referenced in the episode

and the general link to my tag for this episode.

Welcome to another episode of SPNGeorg! This week we take Sam and Dean Home, a place that Dean swore never to return to, while Sam feels compelled to save the people he saw in his nightmare from the same fate their family suffered. And John... basically hides and does a bit of handwringing over the whole mess.

There’s an awful lot of seeds planted in this episode that will take years to bear fruit, but I appreciate this episode for the fertile ground it gives us.

References I used this week:

My tag for this episode

The Superwiki page for this episode

In which I endeavor to convince even one person that this episode isn't the complete trash Chuck seemed to think it was... I am fairly certain the main reason he hated it was because he wasn't really interested in the deeper character narrative of Dean's tormented childhood.

Links and things referenced in this episode, and helpful references in general:

Last time for Kripke's original five episode arenas

My tag for this episode

and last but not least, the Superwiki page for Bugs

Welcome back for a bit of Urban Legend, and what already feels a little bit like a throwback to the original concept of Supernatural before it began evolving into a substantially bigger mytharc driven series. I suppose that's what happens when production issues make these sorts of delays and changes necessary. Lucky us!

Just a few things I referred to in this episode:

The quotes about how John Shiban was asked to join the SPN writing staff can be found here.

The network arenas from the original first five episodes can be found here. (and there's only one more episode to go from those original 5!)

What little I have in my tag for this episode can be found right here.

Questions? Comments? Thoughts? I look forward to hearing them!