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flowrs4opheliaI've been so busy the last few days I just barely had time to watch this on Friday, and since then I've been having fun having big social plans and all that but also really wishing they hadn't had to happen now so I had time to finally do a post talking about this so-called (and rightfully so) "totally twisted, all-hell-breaks-loose, fuck-yourself kind of episode."
I do have some minor complaints that I'll get to. As far as crazy fourth-wall-demolishing meta episodes go, I'd say this one is mostly successful and certainly better than "The Real Ghostbusters" (which I do like...sort of) but not quite on par with the total brilliance of "The Monster At the End of This Book." But I say this with no real and heavy feelings of disappointment because this hour of television was quite a fun experience and all a big, ridiculous, totally uncalled-for treat for this fandom which I'm so glad I was around for now that I'm a somewhat recent convert to the show (the explosion of excitement on my Tumblr dashboard was possibly just as huge during and following this episode airing than it was during the Oscars, lol). It was made with every intention of still being useful in moving the plot forward, but possibly also with little regard for how it would stand against serious criticism because this show can probably take a little of that now and then when it will never lose the devotion of the very fans this episode quite specifically appeals to.
— Balthazar is the most awesome and laid-back mofo of an angel that ever angeled. And such a condescending bitch to humans. And he calls Castiel "Cassie." Hee. ♥ More of him is always a good thing.
— Weirdly enough I think one of the things I found the most hilarious was getting to see Sam and Dean extensively beating the crap out of somebody with their bare hands and an angel pulling out a gun and just capping people left and right. It was just so not the usual kind of action in SPN it was surreal and ridiculous.
— As much as I hate to say it, there were times I was almost annoyed by the over-the-top acting more than impressed with it. I could very well be missing a point in what they were really going for and it's probably partly just a matter of taste in humor, but for instance I think a lot of Misha's scenes would have been much funnier if he were actually acting realistically and more subtly as a slight parody of himself or a big whining wuss. All the moments he plays himself playing Cas are great, as are a lot of scenes when he's more toned-down and himself. (I mean, the moment when he's first talking to Sam and Dean all laid-back-like and you see he has that hilariously Misha kind of T-shirt on under his costume, LMAO. That's the kind of silliness I was looking forward to seeing in this ep and really enjoyed.)
It's almost like he thought viewers wouldn't get that they're not supposed to take this seriously as a reflection of the show's set and staff and we'd believe he's actually acting the way he does in real life if he didn't really overdo a lot of it. As ridiculous as the concept of this episode may be, it didn't have to be done as practically a farce for it to work and be really damn funny, and this kind of tone for the comedy just didn't always work for me. My reaction was pretty much the same as with "Changing Channels": for almost every scene that had me dying with laughter enough to make this memorable as a really funny episode, there was another that seemed to awkwardly go on quite a while without actually making me laugh.
— Wow, sudden and totally unexpected heartbreak in the end after Castiel admits what he did and they all look so sad and sorry/betrayed. :( In a probably intentionally deceptive way, Balthazar comes off as a little less villainous than before in this episode, not least of all because of his willingness to help Cas. Then the shocking reality turns out to be that Castiel is the one we should be worried about because he's even willing to work with him, and if Balthazar is more cooperative in helping him with the weapons now it's probably not because he has significantly changed his ways or become any more trustworthy.
I'm really intrigued now that it appears there's some pretty important stuff we don't know about the war in Heaven and why Sam and Dean specifically should care about it. I've been getting the idea for a while now that all these different plotlines this season are bound to tie together somehow by the end, so maybe what Sam and Dean are supposed to be investigating regarding monsters and souls is somehow relevant to the conflict in Heaven. I know not everyone is liking the way there's just so much going on in this season and the writers are taking their time getting it all to make sense, and a few episodes perhaps have been overly complicated so far, but personally I'm really enjoying it. Hopefully they'll start getting more to the point pretty soon, though.
— I feel like I took forever to understand something really obvious because I used to find it kind of strange that angels who appear in different vessels always appear as the same race instead of all the angels' choices of vessels just being pretty much random. It wasn't until I was watching this when Raphael shows up as a black woman that I finally realized that actually makes perfect sense, because the role of a certain angel's chosen vessel is passed down through a bloodline. CONTINUITY PORN OMG. That's just the kind of stupid little detail of consistency I totally would have messed up on, haha.
I do have some minor complaints that I'll get to. As far as crazy fourth-wall-demolishing meta episodes go, I'd say this one is mostly successful and certainly better than "The Real Ghostbusters" (which I do like...sort of) but not quite on par with the total brilliance of "The Monster At the End of This Book." But I say this with no real and heavy feelings of disappointment because this hour of television was quite a fun experience and all a big, ridiculous, totally uncalled-for treat for this fandom which I'm so glad I was around for now that I'm a somewhat recent convert to the show (the explosion of excitement on my Tumblr dashboard was possibly just as huge during and following this episode airing than it was during the Oscars, lol). It was made with every intention of still being useful in moving the plot forward, but possibly also with little regard for how it would stand against serious criticism because this show can probably take a little of that now and then when it will never lose the devotion of the very fans this episode quite specifically appeals to.
— Balthazar is the most awesome and laid-back mofo of an angel that ever angeled. And such a condescending bitch to humans. And he calls Castiel "Cassie." Hee. ♥ More of him is always a good thing.
— Weirdly enough I think one of the things I found the most hilarious was getting to see Sam and Dean extensively beating the crap out of somebody with their bare hands and an angel pulling out a gun and just capping people left and right. It was just so not the usual kind of action in SPN it was surreal and ridiculous.
— As much as I hate to say it, there were times I was almost annoyed by the over-the-top acting more than impressed with it. I could very well be missing a point in what they were really going for and it's probably partly just a matter of taste in humor, but for instance I think a lot of Misha's scenes would have been much funnier if he were actually acting realistically and more subtly as a slight parody of himself or a big whining wuss. All the moments he plays himself playing Cas are great, as are a lot of scenes when he's more toned-down and himself. (I mean, the moment when he's first talking to Sam and Dean all laid-back-like and you see he has that hilariously Misha kind of T-shirt on under his costume, LMAO. That's the kind of silliness I was looking forward to seeing in this ep and really enjoyed.)
It's almost like he thought viewers wouldn't get that they're not supposed to take this seriously as a reflection of the show's set and staff and we'd believe he's actually acting the way he does in real life if he didn't really overdo a lot of it. As ridiculous as the concept of this episode may be, it didn't have to be done as practically a farce for it to work and be really damn funny, and this kind of tone for the comedy just didn't always work for me. My reaction was pretty much the same as with "Changing Channels": for almost every scene that had me dying with laughter enough to make this memorable as a really funny episode, there was another that seemed to awkwardly go on quite a while without actually making me laugh.
— Wow, sudden and totally unexpected heartbreak in the end after Castiel admits what he did and they all look so sad and sorry/betrayed. :( In a probably intentionally deceptive way, Balthazar comes off as a little less villainous than before in this episode, not least of all because of his willingness to help Cas. Then the shocking reality turns out to be that Castiel is the one we should be worried about because he's even willing to work with him, and if Balthazar is more cooperative in helping him with the weapons now it's probably not because he has significantly changed his ways or become any more trustworthy.
I'm really intrigued now that it appears there's some pretty important stuff we don't know about the war in Heaven and why Sam and Dean specifically should care about it. I've been getting the idea for a while now that all these different plotlines this season are bound to tie together somehow by the end, so maybe what Sam and Dean are supposed to be investigating regarding monsters and souls is somehow relevant to the conflict in Heaven. I know not everyone is liking the way there's just so much going on in this season and the writers are taking their time getting it all to make sense, and a few episodes perhaps have been overly complicated so far, but personally I'm really enjoying it. Hopefully they'll start getting more to the point pretty soon, though.
— I feel like I took forever to understand something really obvious because I used to find it kind of strange that angels who appear in different vessels always appear as the same race instead of all the angels' choices of vessels just being pretty much random. It wasn't until I was watching this when Raphael shows up as a black woman that I finally realized that actually makes perfect sense, because the role of a certain angel's chosen vessel is passed down through a bloodline. CONTINUITY PORN OMG. That's just the kind of stupid little detail of consistency I totally would have messed up on, haha.
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Date: 2011-03-01 11:26 am (UTC)no subject
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