Review: Supernatural episode 7.17 - "The Born-Again Identity"

Warning - contains spoilers

“We didn’t part friends Dean.” 

“So what.” 

I’m going to start off shallow and just get this out of the way. I found it very difficult to concentrate during Sam’s hospital scenes. There. I said it. Jared was really working that whole floppy hair, scruffy, unshaven, dishevelled, tight-white-t-shirt look. Crazy Sam was fiiiiiiiiinnnnnne. Is that bad of me? To be so totally pervy during such a heartbreaking and epic episode? Pffft! I know I’m not alone. Yes I’m looking at you out there. I know you!

But seriously folks, wow, just wow. “The Born-Again Identity” was a near perfect hour of television. I say near, though off the top of my head I can’t think to fault it. I’m sure there’s some out there who are pickity picking at it, but not me. It was a beautiful script, beautifully realised and beautifully performed. It’s up there in my top 3 for the season, jostling for first place with “Meet The New Boss” and “Death’s Door.” Sera Gamble did us proud. She did the Winchesters proud and she did Castiel proud. Cas’ return was glorious. She’s an absolutely beautiful writer. Regardless of what you may think of her in other capacities, surely that one fact can’t be denied. I applaud her. Sera and Ben Edlund are tag-teaming perfection this season. Now I’m completely busting to see his next episode! There was so much hype about this week’s outing, because of the return of that certain Angel, that rattling around in the back of one’s mind is always the niggling thought, what if it doesn’t deliver? Well it did. And how. “The Born-Again Identity” was magnificent.

Well we knew it was going to happen, Sam was eventually going to go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Running the streets in a sleep deprived state he’s hit by a car and winds up in the psych ward of the local hospital, where he shares a room with his bunk buddy Lucifer. Now, I know that this might not be cool to say under these, torturously difficult to watch circumstances, but I simply adore Lucifer. Every time I say that I expect arms to reach up through my floorboards and drag me to Hell kicking and screaming! But I can’t help it. I do. Mark Pellegrino is like a kid in a candy store with that character. He plays him with such verve that I can’t help but titter with glee every time he does something totally bratty. He’s the one thing about Sam being cured I’m going to miss. No more smart-ass, annoying, yet strangely charming Luci. Not that I’d want Sam to remain in this fractured state just for my enjoyment. Of course not! I was wincing along with him with every megaphone screech and firework pop. It was horrible to watch and I’m damn glad it’s over for him. I hope this is the last time we see Sam tortured this way. Visions, demon blood, vessel issues, Hell-dive, no soul, crazy brain…..ok….is that enough? Probably not. But maybe he can have a little break. Here’s hoping that 10 is not on his horizon anytime soon. 

What I loved about Sam’s hospital sojourn (apart from the he looked amazing bit…sorry), is that he was able to solve a case at the same time. Proving that even under the most difficult, life threatening situation, he’s a hunter at heart. But beyond that, he still has that capacity to care, big time. Sure, it was something to distract his brain and while he was talking to Marin, Lucifer was somewhat subdued, but as soon as he put two and two together, he kicked into Winchester mode and went about solving her case. He put his own troubles on the backburner to help someone else. In doing so, he freed a young girl from the kind of torture he was experiencing. What a guy. Sam Winchester your fortitude never ceases to amaze me. As much as I’m besotted with your brother, my heart zings and zips for you too. Just had to let you know that (as I talk to a fictional character).

It goes without saying, Sam’s torture is also Dean’s torture (which means my torture) and ever bit of pain was written across Dean’s face. You know, I’m going to get to the performances later, but I’m always slightly stunned by how Jensen doesn’t really look like Dean. Sounds weird I know, but he doesn’t. I mean, obviously they look a like…same person and all, but he just doesn’t look like Dean. It’s a testament to his performance that I see them as two totally separate individuals and often times have to poke myself to remember that under Dean’s skin is Jensen (and yes, that Dean’s not real *sob*)! “The Born-Again Identity” was one of those moments. A total physical transformation. Dean looked fray, tired, worn, broken, desperate. Teetering on the edge. Just holding on. Again. Meep.

Of course, he’s not going to listen to his brother for one moment when Sam says he can’t be fixed. The Winchesters are nothing if not stubborn sons of bitches. Reminiscent of what is probably my favourite episode “Faith”, also written by Ms Gamble; Dean starts ringing around Bobby’s old friends (in “Faith” Sam rang around John’s old friends), to find a way to help Sam. Which leads him to Emmanuel and the moment so many fans had been waiting for. 

When Dean first set eyes on Emmanuel, A.K.A. Castiel, I think I stopped breathing. Of course, first he had to fight off a demon (yay demons!) and find out the brothers are back on Crowley’s hit list! But then…at the bottom of the stairs….looking up with those innocent eyes is Cas. Dean’s face. How he held it together under the circumstances is beyond me. But he did and he even managed to get his name out and offer his hand to be shaken. At this point, Cas has no idea he’s Cas and Dean caught on to that real quick and went with it. I was itching to see how this first meeting went down and I wasn’t disappointed. I loved it. Misha was perfect.

The car ride was wonderful. Even with Cas confused and suffering from amnesia, Dean opened up to him, telling him he had this friend who let him down, hurt his brother and he just can’t shake it off. Cas responded flatly, of course he can’t, he’s human. It all felt so familiar and as much as I haven’t been pining for Castiel as many of the fans have, I realised I’d missed this. This kind of dialogue. These moments. But I think mostly, this Cas. I like the socially awkward, monotone, Cas. Original Cas. Before he got infected by our humanity. Those flat, honest responses, before we corrupted him with so much emotion. Before he became comic relief, which is how I think he was used through out a lot of season five and even some of six and it did him no justice. He deserved better. This uncomfortable road trip brought back memories of those early scenes between Dean and Cas when they were just starting to build their alliance and friendship. Dean, in this moment, to what essentially is a stranger, opened up more on how he felt about Castiel than he has since the whole bad juju with the Leviathan went down. Man he must have been missing Cas. I’m in no way undermining his relationship with Sam. You know how I feel about that. Sam will always be Dean’s best friend and soul mate, but for some reason, Dean can speak to Cas. Maybe it’s because Cas isn’t family, in the traditional sense of the word and so is just that little bit removed. Maybe it’s because that emotional response Dean’d get from Sam isn’t really there with Cas. Lord knows Dean doesn’t like to openly feel his feelings and Sam does, so maybe that’s why Cas became so important to Dean. Sam knows Dean better than anyone else on the face of this planet and beyond, he can pretty much figure out what Dean’s thinking and is about to say and he’ll head him off at the pass and respond with his own emotionally charged logic. Sam’s wonderful at that and Dean needs it. But more often than not, though Dean has this capacity himself, those emotionally charged conversations squick Dean out! With Cas, he can open up and say his bit without that rush of feelings in return. I think he appreciates that Cas allows him this. Whatever. Dean needed to spill. I’m glad he finally got at least a little of it out. It made me happy. 

When they got to the hospital with the wonderful Meg in tow (please don’t kill her) and all of Cas’ memories came rushing back in that fantastic montage my hands were over my mouth. When faced with what he’d done, Cas looked like he was in such a state of shock, I thought he was about to bolt. Then Dean, God bless him, tells Cas he did the best he could at the time. Oh wow. But Cas wouldn’t hear it, so Dean does what he does best. He reached out with his heart. He reached out with love. He handed Cas the trench coat. 

I burst into tears. 

You know, wait, I know you do because I’m sure this thought instantaneously went through the collective fandom mind….Dean had been carrying that coat around, transferring it from car to car, ever since Cas disappeared into the river. He could have left it in the boot of the Impala safely tucked away, but no. Every new car the brothers stole, the coat came too. Folded neatly in the boot. Just. In. Case. That realisation seriously made me burst into tears. I know everyone was chanting “HUG HUG HUG” but that was way better than a hug. That was love and I think….forgiveness. Dean’s capacity to forgive those he loves is boundless. I find it overwhelming. I found that scene, that small moment between Dean and Castiel overwhelming. This is why I’m besotted with this man…character…whatever…Dean…because he has a beautiful, beautiful heart. And yes I know Dean needed Cas’ help, but everything else in their history together transcended that need and the moment took on a life of it’s own. Lovely. 

Of course, being Supernatural, nothing goes to plan and Cas isn’t able to repair the wall in Sam’s brain because it’s just a bunch of debris. So, he decides to take the pain from Sam and into himself. He transfers all that is broken in Sam’s mind into his own (at least that’s how I saw it, I know there was a lot of chatter about what he actually did) and in doing so, as far as I’m concerned, redeemed himself. When it came to Cas, I’d always said, his redemption will be fixing Sam because that, above everything else he was responsible or partly responsible for, was the most heinous act because it was an act against a friend, against two friends. Cas took on Sam’s pain/Hell memories/crazy/whatever willingly and without thought because he felt responsible and he needed to fix it. But also, because he’s an Angel and this is the kind of things Angels do. It’s so sad, but so awesome at the same time. Poor Cas. Cas you rock. 

And Dean was right by the way. Leaving Cas behind (for now) was their best option. They don’t know what the fallout of his action is going to be. How he’ll cope. When news gets out that he’s alive he’ll be hunted down. The brothers have not only the Leviathan, but now demons on their tails. Both would want Cas. The brothers couldn’t take care of him properly and they couldn’t take that risk. They need to focus on saving the world….again. For now, as much as the image is so very tragic, Cas is safer where he is, under the watchful (and disturbingly horny) eye of Nurse Masters. And boy am I interested to see how this Meg thing plays out! Of course they can’t trust her. I was wondering if to get back in with Crowley she’d offer up Cas. But then I think she knows Crowley would kill her anyway, so being in that hospital is probably the safest place for her too. But what’s that demon playing at? Twisty turns are twisty! I dig it. 

“The Born-Again Identity” soared from the minute it hit the screens to the minute it ended… with all of us going… OH.MY.GOD. I never saw that whole Cas taking in Sam’s crazy thing coming. I didn’t. I was stunned. I also thought it was a satisfactory conclusion to the Sam’s broken wall arc. I didn’t want Cas to simply heal Sam and for them to all to jump in the car and happily beetle off to their next case! That felt like a jip. But the way Cas healed Sam….I’m cool with it. The cast knocked it well and truly out of the park with their performances. Jensen’s Dean was heartbreaking to watch. He can convey so much emotion with that beautiful face of his. Jared’s Sam was devastating. I felt exhausted just watching him. Misha gave us another incarnation of Castiel. How many has that been now? Every one just slightly different. And Rachel’s version of Meg just lights up a room with her bitchy comments. I love her. I hope she doesn’t meet the normal demon fate. Ms Gamble’s script was amazing. The dialogue was beautiful. Peppered throughout the angst were little bits of humour. Nothing that’d make you laugh out loud, but simply chuckle and smile, which lifted the dark tone just enough. Spot on. Though I did laugh at, “Is that a flirtation?” HA! Man, I really love this show. 

Oh damn, I nearly forgot about ghost Bobby! Is it really ghost Bobby or is it just Dean’s grief manifesting itself in strange gusts of wind and moving objects! Heee! I’m excited to find out! And here’s a random thought….I wonder what Daphne is thinking now….or do you think maybe Daphne was not just Emmanuel’s wife but something else? Something looking after him or guarding him? I mean, what must she have thought about the whole not eating or sleeping thing!

Anyhoo….. Next week looks funny. We could do with a bit of a giggle. But after that I have a feeling, it’s all systems go for Dick! I wish they’d hurry and tell us we have a season eight, just so when the team finishes shooting up north (not my north) they know they’re coming back and the team down south (not my south) can work it all out accordingly….not that I have any doubt in my mind that “Supernatural” will be back for an eighth season, it will (I insist!) but please don’t make us wait for the May Upfronts…….

Thanks for reading! Sorry it’s a bit long….but really I could go on and on about this one and I think I only scratched the surface. Let me know what you thought, whether you enjoyed it, liked the outcome, what you think Meg’s up to?

See you next week for “Party On, Garth” – might have to watch “Wayne’s World” in preparation! 
-Amy

The Born-Again Identity and why I'm really excited!

Warning....ahead be spoilers!

I'm always excited about a new episode of "Supernatural", but sometimes an episode comes along that has me REALLY excited. Whether it's the opening of the season, or the almighty season finale, or something with cowboys, invariable there are a few moments throughout a season where I can literally feel my heart beating faster and faster as we head towards the weekend and a brand new "Supernatural".

Like this week. I'm practically having palpitations.

When it comes to "Supernatural", my favourite episodes are always the emotionally fraught ones. Sure, I love a good Unicorn-farting-out-a-rainbow moment as much as the next fan, but give me high stakes, give me brother worried for brother, give me great big dollops of Dean angst and I'm the happiest/saddest/happiest gal in the world.

And The Born-Again Identity looks like it's going to deliver angst....lots of beautiful, beautiful Winchestery angst. Yay!

I'm excited about the return of 'Cas'. Mostly because we're not sure what to expect! Misha teased in an interview released today:

"A lot of people are just going to be excited to see 'Cas' again. And of course, as things twist and turn, there’s going to be a lot of people who are really disappointed that it’s not exactly how they want it."

And that right there has me clapping my hands and making "ooooooo" noises! Interesting.

But the main reason I'm excited about the return of 'Cas' is to see how Dean deals with it. How will he deal with seeing his friend, who he believes betrayed him and who he knows broke his brother's head. I want to see Dean's face. I want to experience his confusion and his anger and his happiness and his disbelief and his relief and the myriad of emotions that will run through Dean when he claps eyes on the resurrected 'Castiel'.

It's.Going.To.Be.Epic.

The fact that 'Castiel' remembers nothing. Wow. That's going to make for some very interesting conversations right there! And I can't wait to witness every one of them.

Of course, the other reason I'm champing at the bit for The Born-Again Identity is that Dean's going to be in full-on big-brother mode. Sam is dying. Sam is giving up. Dean can't have that. Dean can't lose Sam. Dean has to find a way to save him because that's what Dean does and I'm cool with it. For me, Dean is most glorious when putting every ounce of his being into finding a way to help Sam (I'd say the same for Sam by the way, but of course, about Dean). I know a lot of other people think it's passé, that Dean hasn't got a storyline outside of this, or whatever, but me, I don't think like this, because this is Dean and this is why I love him. This is who he is. Sam keeps Dean moving forward. Sam keeps Dean human. Sam is his heart and soul. They’re each other’s heart and soul. That's never going to change. At least I hope it doesn’t.

It's not that I don't want the brothers to be happy, I do. But I love this show for their journey and let's face it, their journey will always be a struggle. I dig watching them try to beat and overcome everything that the Universe throws at them. I love watching them triumph, only to fall again and then pick themselves up and dust themselves off and give it another shot. It's inspiring.

My favourite thing in the whole world is when the brothers are looking out for each other and supporting each other and backing each other up (and of course, teasing each other)...hence my joy at the direction season seven has taken. Even through all the loss, there's been so much gained. At least for me.

My favourite episodes are all about the brothers. Faith, The End, Swan Song... These all have moments when Sam and Dean realise, above everything else, what they mean to each other. And that right there is what the show means to me.

So I'm excited about The Born-Again Identity because it looks like that relationship will be front and centre. But not only that, it looks like it’ll put Dean's love front and centre, that it’ll bring to a head all that Sam's been struggling with and of course, bring back an old friend, one who's been sorely missed, and who'll add to the overwhelming confusion and angstiness of the whole schbang. For Sam and Dean…and for us. Big episode sounds big. I'm sure I'll be in tears throughout. I can’t wait. What is wrong with me? Oh right...I'm a "Supernatural" fan. I love pain. Obviously.

I'm so excited for the end of this season. How do we solve a problem like Lucifer (go on, sing it like the Sound Of Music), will Sammy recover, will Dean finally fall in a heap, what is the deal with 'Castiel', what twists and turns will that character take, how will the brothers deal with 'Cas' being back, is he really ‘Cas’, will we ever see Bobby again (meep), when will the Impala come back (meep meep)...oh yeah and then there's that Leviathan thing!

So much. Seven episodes. BRING.IT.ON.

The day the Padababy was born…Or the tweet heard around the world!

I was just heading to the kitchen to feed my dog Harry when I heard Dean yell out “Son of a bitch”, which is how my phone announces I have a message. I grabbed it assuming it was something everyday, only to see that long awaited tweet from @jarpad….. “It’s a boy :)” 

KABOOOOM! Supernatural fandom explodes.

I let out a little squeal and a “Yay!” to no one in particular and quickly texted my friend Hazel. “Padababy is born!” Quick as a flash back, “Yay! OMG!”

I jumped back online. First stop twitter. My entire timeline was filled with the news, to which, of course, I added. Next stop Facebook. My entire timeline was filled with the news, to which, of course, I added.

I then spent the next hour or more gleefully joining in the celebration!

There was talk about names, weight, size, first photos, hereditary dimples, did the little guy have a mini-moose onesie, does he have flowing locks, did Jared pass out, when would uncle Jensen get a cuddle, did he come out saying “Hey dude, I’m Stanley!" Everyone wanted to know the date, was it the 19^th or had the bub been around for a bit. Everyone wanted to know how Gen went, did everything go as planned, how was she feeling, was she was doing ok.

Almost instantaneously the Twitter trending commenced. First we trended #WelcomePadababy. Then we trended #UNCLEJENSEN. This one made me laugh out loud and go awwwww at the same time. A tricky combination, but you know, Jensen elicits a myriad of emotions at the best of times! Then we trended #PapaPadalecki. All of these, at some stage, were number 1 on Twitter’s Worldwide trends list. #UNCLEJENSEN and #PapaPadalecki trended at the same time! Bless. Like seriously BLESS!

There was such an outpouring of love that you couldn’t help but get swept up in it. People were tweeting the happy daddy. Cast and crew were tweeting Jared. Cast and crew were tweeting fans. Amy Gumenick said she was a Grandma! And of course everyone was tweeting each other. It was a joyous congratulations to the happy parents and the warmest of welcomes to the newest member of our Supernatural family. I’d never seen anything like it. The love. It was palatable.

It’s moments like these I’m reminded what a family we really are. Sure we have our spats, our little disagreements, but when it comes to the crunch, when it comes to something important, we all come together and have a global group hug! We raise money, we support each other and when one of our own has good, no, great news, we shout it out loud and clear for the whole world to hear.

Last night, I honestly felt like a member of my family had just welcomed a new bub. We were all that happy. And you know what, in a way a member of my family did welcome a new bub, that’s the kind of feelings these guys produce in me. They feel like family and they make me feel like family….my extended family! I was so overly excited; I kind of didn’t know what to do with it! So I tweeted out my joy with the rest of my Supernatural family. It was lovely and gushy and wonderful.

I honestly couldn’t be happier for Jared and Gen and I was so glad to be able to share that happiness with Supernatural fans from around the world.

Oh and yes, I did eventually feed Harry.

-Auntie sweetondean

Review – Supernatural episode 7.16 “Out With The Old”

Warning: contains spoilers.

“You see a Winchester, you don’t eat him! You tell me and I eat him!”

On first viewing I wasn’t sure what to make of “Out With The Old.” Admittedly I had a bit of a bad run with the watching. I was watching it on my laptop and it kept freezing and I missed a tiny bit at the beginning, like when the dancer’s feet exploded (neat!), so I decided not to make any judgements and try again. This time it was on my big screen TV, just how Dean’s meant to be watched, I mean just how Supernatural’s meant to be watched, and well, I dozed off! I didn’t hold this against the episode…I went out the night before and had a bit of a late, slightly boozy one and, well…the Winchesters are so dreamy they must have lulled me to sleep. Heh. Note to self…don’t lie on the couch to watch TV when feeling a bit, um, well, like Dean must feel many a morning (no, not hot). So take three and a great big coffee and I finally managed to watch the whole thing through! On third, but actually first real viewing, I discovered, I very much liked “Out With The Old.” It turned out to be the kind of Supernatural episode I particularly dig. Initially it had a fun vibe, there were some ominous undertones mixed in, a mystery was brewing and then it morphed into something completely unexpected. Like much of season seven it felt old school. I’d call it a strong outing. Since coming back from the Christmas hiatus I’ve felt this season has been particularly strong. If only it weren’t for all the damn breaks in the schedule trying to ruin our momentum….

“Out With The Old” had more turns than that ballet dancer with the cursed Pointe shoes. It kicked off with a nice bit of gore (yes..awesome) and moved into what looked like an amusing MOTW story complete with crazed cursed objects, including some vintage porn…"A vintage men's magazine sold to Peter Yanket, 27 Johnson Lane" (HA!!!) and the vision of Dean watching “Black Swan”…twice…and lovingly eyeing off a pair of pretty ballet shoes…in his size. Oh the vision in my head that created. I wonder how long before the fan art reveals itself. Then being the clever clogs hunter he is, Dean starts to get suspicious of the real estate dealings in town and with a bit of help from Frank, puts two and two together and discovers it adds up to Leviathan. I so love it when Dean’s all smart hunter…. All the while, Sam is slowly unravelling due to lack of sleep because his bunk-buddy Lucifer will not shut-up. Then during the showdown with the gooey Leviathan S.O.B’s, we are left with a rather startling revelation, the ‘Big Mouths’ are here to help. They’re going to cure cancer. W.T.F?

Of course the words pants on fire come to mind when thinking of what George told the boys, but still. Mind. Blown. Maybe we’re heading down the road of a philosophical conundrum. Can we turn a blind eye and sacrifice a few people as food for a cure that will help billions? Somehow I don’t think it’ll come to that. I’m sure the Leviathan plot is something nefarious. I really don’t see them as being a power for good. Remember what Chronos, the God of time said, “I know your future. It's covered in thick black ooze. It's everywhere. They're everywhere. Enjoy oblivion.” Yeah, see, that doesn’t sound real positive! Either George was lying or he doesn’t know the big picture plan. He seemed pretty far down the food chain, if you’ll pardon the pun. Cue the rather ominous but excellent use of “Bad Moon Rising” and we discover an empty, bloodied, trashed trailer and no cranky-pants Frank. Of course last time we heard “Bad Moon Rising” it signified one hell of an ending to “Devil’s Trap” and also a hospital visit and near, very near, death experience for one of our brothers. Knowing what’s coming next week, I totally adored that this song made another appearance. Every hair on my body stood up…. O-oh….

The thing about season seven is that so many episodes have been like this. Just when you think it’s going one way, it turns you on your head and goes another. I’m enjoying that. I feel like I’m being kept on my toes. It plays into the mystery. I like the fact that the Leviathan just randomly pop up. That feels right to me, because the whole idea of the Leviathan is that they’re supposed to be working their way into our society unseen. They aren’t banding together all in one place, plotting and scheming like some evil cult, they’re organised, they’re spread out across the country and presumably the globe, doing whatever it is they’re doing while passing as every day people. They could be anywhere. They could be anyone. It makes sense that the boys might accidentally bump into them. For those who don’t feel the Leviathan constitute a significant threat, think about that. Like Dean said in “Repo Man”, any minute the boys could walk into a crime scene and come face to face with a whole bunch of ‘Big Mouths’ because why not? They’ve infiltrated us as corporate highflyers and small town real estate agents, so who knows where they’ll turn up next. That’s the point and as far as I’m concerned that’s scary and interesting and cool. The other thing I thought about these nasty, gooey guys is; what better way to position yourself to conquer humanity than to offer to the world a remarkable gift? Say they do cure cancer. Say it’s then revealed to the world that it’s Dick Roman and his corporation that finally put an end to this awful disease. This would make him God like in the world’s eyes. Can you imagine the access that would afford him? He’d be welcomed with open arms in every country. He’d be able to meet and mix with, and then presumably have a ‘Big Mouth’ shift into and eat, our world leaders. This could make the Leviathan unstoppable and if taking over humanity is their goal (which I don’t know, but I’ve always assumed it is), then this one act of apparent good, could put them into a position of power and adulation where anything is possible. This is the direction my thinky thoughts have been going. Big, VERY BIG picture. Not just securing their food source. But securing their position in the world. Hmmmm. Do they seem dangerous enough now? Of course, it could simply be that they're allergic to cancer and to ensure their survival they have to eradicate it, but I like my other over thought out, random idea better and I think the writers should listen to me! Or you know, give me a job. Heeeee.

The other thing going on in “Out With The Old” was all about Sammy. He’s falling apart at the seams. Slowly but surely being driven down the road to crazy town by his imaginary ‘friend’ Lucifer. What I like here is that Sam came clean about it. After we saw him get engulfed in a wall of flames at the end of “Repo Man”, I felt sure Sam was going to do his usual, keep-it-all-hidden-from-Dean act, but no. He told his brother he can’t sleep, he told him that Lucifer is yelling at him the whole time, or singing “Stairway To Heaven” over and over…oh how I would have loved to have seen that. He told Dean sleep deprivation is like torture. He’s agitated, crabby and distracted and he’s being honest. Honest to Dean. Praise Chuck. And Dean to his credit is obviously concerned, but not freaking out….yet. I read a few comments (I really shouldn’t) about how Dean is selfishly ignoring Sam’s plight, but on the contrary, I see him as being strong and steady for Sam and not being cloying and over protective with his younger brother. He's also not boozing on. Have you noticed that? Three episodes in a row now, no whiskey, no beer. I think this is also partly for Sam, because right now, Sam needs him not to be all broken and drowning his sorrows. He needs his brother to be clear and focused, because in Sam's current condition, he can't be. In my eyes, there’s been a definite shift in the Winchester’s relationship towards more of an equal partnership rather than the traditional older/young brother dynamic. This has been since Sam’s return from Hell. And it’s as it should be. Because these guys are both grown men. Dean is obviously concerned. He’s asking how Sam is, he’s trying to get him grab some sleep at every opportunity, he’s aware and watching, but he’s not forcing his will on Sam. It all seemed very grow’d up to me. Sure, he probably has no idea how bad it really is because though Sam is being honest, he’s also being flippant, probably for the same reason Dean isn’t being overbearing, so as not to totally freak his brother out. They both have had so much on their plates this season, I see them both treading gently with each other, for fear that one or both of them will become unglued….which of course is about to happen. When you love someone, you don’t necessarily give them the whole bad story, you let them know what’s happening, but more often than not, you also protect them somewhat from the complete truth. I think that’s what Sam is doing and in response I think Dean is trying to remain calm for Sam and to some degree, himself. Lord knows, Dean is the King of denial after all. The moment I loved the best was when Dean suggested Sam sleep in the car and that he’d find him a soft rock station because it, “Always knocks you right out.” Adorable. That was a big brother/little brother moment right there and it was also a history together moment and it made my heart all full of Winchestery brotherly love. I so adore these brothers…..why do they always hurt me so….

And then there was Frank and his bloodied, totalled trailer. Is he really dead? Eaten by the Leviathan? My bet is, nup. It could go three ways… 1. He’s faked it because he’s realised he’s got in too deep? I don’t see him walking out on the Winchesters though. As much as he’s a self-protecting, paranoid nutbag, he seems to have developed a bitchy accord with Dean and I don’t see him deserting Dean now. 2. The Leviathan have grabbed him to find out what he knows? Nah, if they shifted into him they’d find that out and then they could chow down on him too, so I can’t see that the Leviathan would gain anything from holding Frank hostage, unless it was to coax the boys into a situation where they had to save Frank. Possible. 3. The demons are finally getting back into the action? I’m waiting and waiting for the demons to come back into play. That serial-killer-coach demon said they’d be back “Back in black” and there’s no way on the face of this earth, that Crowley would have taken his muffin basket and faded into the background, so at some stage, I see him making a play to regain his former glory. Maybe they grabbed Frank to find out what he knows? Maybe they grabbed Frank to coax the Winchester brothers out. Or you know, I guess maybe Frank’s dead. What ever the outcome, Dean was right… “Not good.” There’s definitely a bad moon on the rise. YAY!

“Out With The Old” left me feeling all tingly for the end of this season. Not that I want it to finish…but I really want to see what happens next. I’m excited! We’ve got 7 episodes left and I feel like that’s a good amount of time to really get our teeth into this Leviathan arc (as before, no pun intended) and possibly resurrect a couple of loved ones… Yes…next week’s promo made me squee. I’ll admit right here and now in front of you all that, though I love Castiel, I haven’t found myself missing him or pining for him in the least, but, that promo for next week made me go “HELLZ YEAH!” I seriously can’t wait! Though I have a feeling, once again, my heart is going to shatter into a million pieces. But hey, if I didn’t like angst, I sure as hell wouldn’t be watching this show now would I?

What did you think of “Out With The Old.” I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading….see you all next week….if we survive….again….


Here's next week's promo....

And here's a sneak peek.... 

And please enjoy this cap of Dean with pie... :)

My J&J photos from Burcon 2012

Please help yourself....credit me if you like @AmyinSydney or sweetondean

One Crazy Awesome Sunday with the Js – Part 3 - Jensen

*all photos used are by me

So yeah. I pretty much fly around the world…well over the Pacific…just for this guy. I don’t even remember how it started. Well, I guess it started with Dean and blossomed into Jensen. The more I found out about him, the more I dug him. Of course now, I’ve met him a few times and each time seems more awesome than the last.

Once again, I had a really good photo op experience with him. This time, I was surprisingly lucid! Jensen was in incredibly high spirits. Maybe it was the birthday party the night before, maybe it was just being home in LA. I don’t know, but he was obviously feeling good and he was looking fine! So, to say I was excited about my meet and greet with Jensen at Burcon would be…well, an understatement would be an understatement!

Jensen’s Meet and Greet….Or 30 minutes in Heaven.

I had front row for Jared’s meet and greet, but unfortunately for Jensen, I was in the back. Hazel sacrificed her 2^nd row seat to come and sit next to me. It was her AMOK act for the day. We’re a little joined at the hip at these things so I was very happy she did. I managed to orchestrate a moving of the seats. I suggested we squish the rows up…anything to get closer to the man…and everyone did. I then sort of sat/knelt on my chair to get a bit of height and waited…….

I love the way Jensen moves. There I said it. He has a way to his stride that feels very familiar, amongst other things. Maybe it’s those bandy legs of his. So when he came into the room…striding….I was all sixes and sevens. I so dig being this close to him. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to him just coming in and saying “Hi” all friendly and relaxed and then recognising a bunch of us. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to sitting with him in this kind of situation, in this little room, with him right there. Never, ever. Which is kind of nice right? It’s almost too much for my Jensen lovin’ heart to cope with. Plus he was looking particularly spectacular in a soft, black, wool hoodie and scruffy jeans, with a bit of scruffy stubble….yup…..

One of the things I really love, well one of the million things I really love, about Jensen, is his listening face. That’s what I call it. He has this expression. He really concentrates when you speak to him. He leans right forward in his chair, one eyebrow arched, as he listens intently to what you have to say. Then he sits back, has a think and then answers, zeroing right in on you, holding eye contact while he thoughtfully responds to your, probably months in the making, question. It’s amazing, it makes you feel special, it makes you feel like he’s interested in talking to you, like he’s enjoying interacting with you and, well, it’s completely discombobulating!

Anyhoo, the first thing Jensen said was, what was with the separate buildings? He joked that they needed a tram to get everyone back and forth. He wasn’t kidding. It was like a mini marathon every time you had to go from one place to the next! It was funny that he mentioned it. I mean he had to go from the photo room at the back of the other building all the way over to another wing for the meet and greet and then back again for the panel! I wish I’d seen that, him being walked past the fans with that ridiculous caricature of a security guard that was with him the whole time (not Clif, some man mountain who never took off is sunnies and looked like he came straight out of a box from the cliché security guard store), but I was sitting in a small room waiting for him to arrive, with baited breath, so I missed that particular circus!

He rocked up with a friend called Chris who sat in on the meet and greet to “Audit the class” as Jensen put it. From something Jensen said later I got the sense that he was a pal from high school. I wonder what on earth he thought of the 19 women and 1 man hanging on every word his buddy had to say! Weirdness I’m sure.

Right of the bat we heard how Jensen found the shooting of Bobby shocking. He was busting to read the follow up script to “How To Win Friends And Influence Monsters”. Usually the scripts are emailed to him, but not this time. The script for “Death’s Door” was hand delivered. Because of that, he knew something was up and it must be big. It wasn’t a complete surprise as he and Jared had been given a heads up, but he was still blown away by it. And though I get the distinct feeling neither of the guys are at all keen on the killing of Bobby storyline, they both admit that “Death’s Door” was an amazing episode, their favourite in fact.

I got to ask Jensen a question. Having been in the Chicago meet and greet and hearing how he sometimes has to ‘Deanify’, as I like to put it, dialogue, I wondered if he ever had to tackle anything in the script, around an action or plot point, that just didn’t feel right and how he dealt with that. He said, yes sometimes an action but rarely a storyline or plot point. More often than not it’s simply just a tweak to the dialogue to make the script sound true to Dean. He spoke again about how they have one outside writer a season submit a script. He asked his buddy Chris about this, as apparently, Chris is a writer. Chris didn’t know. Jensen chastised him. We all grinned like idiots. He then spoke again about the scene where Sam finds out that Dean killed Amy, and how it sounded like a rom-com until they rewrote it while sitting in the makeup trailer and he said Amy…while looking right at me. Amy. That’s me. Amy! I think my heart shot out of my mouth! Yes, I’m that ridiculous….

One of my favourite moments was Jensen’s Bob Singer impersonation. Bob seems to talk to Jensen in some kind of, mumbling, body language, arm-waving code. He basically just has to shrug his shoulders and make an “Ermmmmm” sound, put his hands in the air and walk away and Jensen has it! It means, slow it down, make it longer, or do something different. Jensen got up and acted the whole thing out complete with crazy arm movements and funny faces. Bless.

Like Jared, he also talked about hitting the reset button. He wants to get “the band back together” as he put it. He wants all the old characters back, the dead ones. He also said he didn’t think they’d be listened to because they’re the actors not the writers. But I thought it was really interesting that they both want this. I don’t think it’s necessarily that they don’t like the direction of the season, because both commented on the old school vibe of season seven, which they both like, but I think it’s more as actors, having an ensemble to work off is more rewarding than just having the two of them and as Jensen said, this far into the series, really, they’re making the show for us now, they’re not going to get a slew of new viewers, so if the fans want people back, that should happen. I love that they think they’re making the show for us. It makes me appreciate everything they do, all those long hours away from home, even more. I have to say I don’t mind the reset concept, but not the lose a whole season, disregard what the brothers, but more importantly we, have invested and gone through over the last year or more and just throw it in the trash concept. Uh-ah. Not like! Seems like a jip to me. But I know many people do like the idea. Having said that, I would love to see the band get back together. I would love to see some of my favourite dead guys and gals come back. But if they do it, it better be perfection, s’all I’m saying. I didn’t say any of this to Jensen of course. That would have required me to be coherent!

One thing to look forward to, the Air Supply, All Out Of Love scene in “Slash Fiction” has an extended version that’ll hopefully make the gag real. The song was in the script but then they took it out because it was too expensive. But John Showalter thought they should do it anyway. So in true Jensen style, he went for it. They did the whole song and John said, “You just cost Warner Bros 20 grand” because he knew there was no way they couldn’t use it once they saw it. Personally, that was one of the highlights of the season for me! I loved the moment…when Dean turns, closes his eyes, scrunches up his nose and nods his head to the beat….gold. I can’t wait to see the long version! Jensen can be a huge goof.

Hazel asked a question. She asked if post Supernatural, is there was anything he wouldn’t do. Like, if there was a role that was morally opposed to his beliefs or if there was a line that he wouldn’t cross. He was beautiful about it. He said his grandmother once said to him about acting that it’s in here – points to his head – not in here – points to his heart. So for him, there is an intellectual separation between the content and his personal beliefs. But yes, there are lines he will not cross. He didn’t share what they were. Not that I expected him to. It’s funny, Hazel and I discussed this question and both said, he won’t tell us what that line is. I like that about Jensen. I like that level of privacy.

Someone else commented to him about how amazing the end of “Adventures In Babysitting” was, with the fake smiling. He talked about how that was in the script and sometimes that makes him nervous, when a reaction is actually written into the script like that. He’s worried that he’s reading it right, that he’s doing what the writer wanted. But the fan that asked the question said it was amazing. Jensen thanked her. I wanted to tell him, I barely know a single soul who can get through that scene without bursting into tears. But I couldn’t get my brain and my mouth to connect quickly enough. Blame it on the Jensen effect. Jensenated. Totally.

He also talked, once again, about how his music taste is very much like Dean. He loves classic rock. Add a bit of blues and a bit of country and you have Jensen. He turned to his friend Chris and said how he’d been like that since high school right? Chris smiled and nodded. Poor Chris. Honestly…what on earth must he have thought? He looked like he was enjoying it though, but I wonder if it was an eye opener for him, to see his pal in the light of adulation.

There was also a question about his best and worst working experiences. His best of course is “Supernatural”. He said it was the best thing that every happened to him. That he’d made life long friendships and that the crew was like family. The worst was “Devour”. He suggested we don’t watch it…we all shuffled uncomfortably, because obviously, we’ve all watched it! He said that the movie was rewritten as they were making it, so the movie he signed on for was not the movie that came out. I found myself wondering if that chair scene was in the original script or not. You all know what I’m talking about. Do not pretend for a minute you don’t! Anyway, Jensen said he still couldn’t figure out what the Hell the end meant. I have to agree with him, I have no clue either! He also said that “Ten Inch Hero” held a special place in his heart, because that was where him and Danneel fell in love. Nawwww.

I can’t remember what the question was, but Jensen ended up talking about when Supernatural ends. He said he’s looking forward to getting back to his life. To seeing his wife again, to going and spending some time with his family in Dallas, to being able to hang out with friends. He said he’s not there yet, he still loves the show and doing the show, but he can feel it’s coming and he can feel that he’s going to want to move on and have a change, just not yet. This is what I was saying in the Jared report when he discussed 8 and a possible truncated 9. I got the distinct feeling they’ve got a vision for the next couple of years. We know that they’re all for one and one for all, so I guess maybe they’ve discussed it. I must admit I found it a tad confronting. But realistically, we all know it has to end in the next couple of years and we all know that this, brilliantly talented pair have to move on eventually. Of course we will follow them! They can’t get rid of us that easy! At the end of Jensen discussing this subject, me being the smartarse I am, said “But what if after Supernatural you got offered the most an amazing opportunity on an amazing show, and it shot in Vancouver?”  He looked at me and said he’d knock it back. If it was in LA yes, but he’s done with working away from home…

I saw him do a little nod so I knew the whole thing was coming to an end. Hazel rounded it out with a question about the giant slinky, did he really love it as much as it looked like he did? He laughed out loud. I gotta say, Hazel was beyond stoked that she made him laugh like that! No, he wasn’t in love with the slinky…he was acting. Well, yeah, we knew that, but it was fun to see you bust out a laugh Mr. Ackles.

And it was over. He got up and thanked us for coming. He said it’d been a pleasure to talk to us and I believed him. Jensen puts so much thought into his answers. I love how thoughtful he is. He’s respectful and conscious of giving us all the time we need. He makes sure he gets to everyone who has a question. Man, I can’t even….

Then he strode out of the room and I knew I’d have a long, long wait until I got this opportunity again. But I also knew that I would definitely have this opportunity again, because like I said in part 1 of this longer than long report, I just can’t see me ever giving up the opportunity to sit in a small room with him. I just can’t. Jensen’s meet and greet is the cherry on a huge pile of delicious convention ice cream and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

That’s it! I guess if you didn’t know before how much of a Jensen fan I am, you sure do now!

I hope you enjoyed my reports. Thanks so much for reading. See you next time.

You'll find part 1 here

You'll find part 2 - Jared's meet and greet here

One Crazy Awesome Sunday with the Js – Part 2 - Jared

*all photos used are by me.

If you read part 1 of my Sunday report, you’d know that I get struck with what I call J-brain when around Jensen and Jared (particularly Jensen), so I will try and do my best to give you a rundown of both the boy’s (men! heee) meet and greets but I have a tendency to simply register the experience as opposed to lock away the answers. We have, after all, heard a lot of it before. I don’t take notes in these things either because, well I have no interested in looking down when I could be looking other places! I mean, right?! So I work on my very holey J-brained memory….and as you may have ascertained, my brain really doesn’t function very well in the presence of the Js. So please be patient with me. As always, I will give it my best shot.

Jared’s Meet and Greet….Or 30 minutes of dimples and sweaty adorableness.

Jared was late. That was the story of the day, He was late for the breakfast, late for his meet and greet and late for the autos! There is something totally adorable about his lateness. Because, apparently, he’s all arms and legs and energetic exasperation when he’s late. He came in the door of the meet and greet room looking a little, flustered, apologising and of course, blaming Jensen. He plonked himself into his seat with a “Hi guys how y’all doing” and proceeded to ask us what was happening. Now I’ve never done a Jared meet and greet before and though I’ve had photos with him and come up close in the autos, I must say, being right in front of him while he chatted away, I was struck by how completely lovely he is. This, of course, should be no surprise. But I don’t know, I was still sort of taken a back by his prettiness (yes this is how my meet and greet reports go). He has the prettiest damn eyes and really long eyelashes and of course, those dimples and that smile. Straight away he said he had his phone in his pocket and if it went off, he’d have to sprint from the room because he was on baby alert. I thought to myself, man that’d be a long flight back to Gen! The woman would have to cross her legs until her husband arrived! Talk about stress! God love him for still attending so close to their due date. I mean, really. God love him! Anyway, thankfully, no call. So we had Jared for the full 30 minutes (plus a bit because he didn’t want to stop talking.)

He was holding a drink when he came in and someone asked him if it was a beer. Quick as a whip he came back with “No it’s Bourbon” or maybe he said whiskey, I get those two confused. Then he said, “Nah, it’s Coke” and we all happily giggled and breathed a sigh of relief that we hadn’t driven him to drink at 10.30 in the morning!

The whole thing was very relaxed and casual. I love how laid back the meet and greets are. They’ve a lovely, easy vibe. I find I become conscious of the fact I’m smiling like crazy. I sometimes wonder if I look a little bit like the Joker! But I just can’t help it. There I am and there he is and….yay!

Jared talked a lot about season seven and the death of Bobby and Cas. Neither of the boys liked that very much. He spoke about how he and Jensen would love a reset, so that all their favourite ‘dead’ characters could come back. He said, “Dallas did it.” I thought….nooooo, no Dean in the shower….wait….hang-on….I may be rethinking this…. Ha! Apparently he and Jensen have discussed this concept of a reset a bit. They’ve even mentioned it in passing to the Powers That Be. I interjected and told him there was a lot of talk about this reset idea online, that maybe season seven was Dean’s dream or Sam was still in Hell and six and seven were Sam’s Hell dreams and that people were looking at weird time references and numbers as evidence to support this theory. He was pretty impressed by the fandom’s over thinking! He really digs the idea that maybe Sam really is still in Hell as Lucifer keeps taunting him, but when asked if he thought Sam was actually crazy or still trapped in the cage, he thinks it’s going to pan out that Sam is simply crazy, he’s not sure, but he thinks that’s what the writers are heading towards. Though he definitely sounded like he’d prefer the alternative scenario. He said that if they did a reset and go back it could probably only be one season because they can’t go back too far, what with the guys looking a bit different and all. He might have to trim those sidies…he didn’t say that but I was thinking it! He talked about how in “Repo Man” the only thing they could really do for the flashback was put him in Sam’s old Pumas! I don’t think we even saw Sam’s feet did we?

Someone asked what his most shocking moment or episode was and outside of Bobby’s death, he said it was when they got the script for Houses Of The Holy. He said he and Jensen literally stormed the Vancouver production offices and sent everyone out while they rang Kripke to give him a blast, thinking Eric was trying to use them as a mouthpiece for his personal views. Of course, once Eric explained all, they were cool with it, but he said he was very worried about that episode, as he didn’t sign on for that kind of show. He doesn’t care about people’s beliefs but he doesn’t want to be put in a position where he has feels like his own beliefs are being compromised.

Then he got all hot and said he was burning up. We all nodded internally. He jumped out of his chair doing that shirt shake thing he does and moved across the room to try and adjust the air conditioning. When that failed, he unbuttoned his shirt….revealing a v-necked t-shirt underneath………….I’m proud to say, none of us yelled “Take it off”, at least not in our out-loud voices. A few minutes later a big “whirrrr” noise kicked in, so I guess someone sorted the air out for our hot daddy to be. I was pretty happy they didn’t do it earlier!

He was very candid about the boys loving Mark Pedowitz. Mark loves the show and went up and visited the boys on set, he is a fan. Apparently Jared didn’t like the Bobby being killed scenario either, mainly because as a fan of the show, he likes the Bobby character and didn’t want to see him go, but he said to Jared, beyond his personal opinion, it was good TV. I agree…as sad as it was, it was damn good TV. Jared said that Mark Pedowitz nearly had a falling out with his boss at CBS because of the People’s Choice fiasco. He ended up taking out online advertising to congratulate Supernatural on their win. They seem to like him. I do too. He likes the show. He looks TV. He wears jeans to functions! Very TV. He’s obviously a smart cookie.

Jared also talked about how excited he is for season 8. He said he thought they’d get 8 and probably a 9 or maybe a truncated 9, like One Tree Hill. I got the definite vibe they are thinking about the end game, as I guess, at this point, they would be. I got that from Jensen too…but I’ll get to that.

Someone asked him whom he most admired and he said, his dad. He says his dad just can’t lie. He always tells the truth and Jared really looks up to him for that. He said he has that same gene, the truth gene, though sometimes it gets him in trouble. He used the example of a pregnant Gen asking him if she could still get away with a certain pair of pants, to which Jared replied “Ahhhh wellllll….”. Gen said, “This is when you lie!” Bless! He said how she’s not a girlie girl, she’s just a “chick”, but since she’s been pregnant she’s been much more girlie, because something is going on inside with hormones and he was all like, I have no clue what that is! Waving his hands around in confusion. It was really very sweet.

Alexis asked him if there was going to be another series of the Anime. Jared said that unfortunately the DVD of the anime was released at the same time that the Tsunami hit Japan and the area that was decimated was one of the areas that the distributors were expecting the biggest sales. He clarified to say, that of course the tragedy here was the Tsunami not the DVD sales, however, sales were so affected that another series is in doubt. But if it happens, he will definitely be involved. He didn't speak directly for Jensen, but the implication was they were both keen to do it.

And then there was the dag thing. In Australia and New Zealand, dag is a term of endearment. If someone is kind of adorable and goofy, we call them a dag. Jared right? So Hazel and I always call Jared a dag. He’s a total dag! Hazel and my question was, did he hear a lot of odd colloquialisms because of how he deals with so many international fans, and Jared said, oh yeah. We then went on to say; well we called you a dag and he didn’t know what that was, so we gave him the literal translation. Amanda, also from Australia, was a couple of chairs over and trying to crawl into a hole as she asked us not to tell him! You will have to Google it, I’m not telling you what it is. But Jared upon hearing the translation was laughing and saying, “Oh yeah I get called names like that all the time, like shit-head and asshole and douche-bag!” We were like, nooooo it’s a nice term, it’s an endearment, honest! He was laughing. We thought he’d appreciate it because he likes words and he has a sense of humour. Then we got into a weird conversation about how dude is actually the word for camel’s balls….I don’t know how that happened! Anyway, it meant that from then on, every time Jared saw either Hazel or I he called us dags….which is kind of awesome.

There was probably more, but I can’t remember all the questions. It seemed to go by very quickly. Jared digresses, so when you ask him a question, he goes off on a tangent. One question can end up going a few different ways and go on for a while. The thing that struck me the most was how at ease he was. I don’t know why I should be surprised by that, these guys are so laid back, but it makes for a really enjoyable and easy experience. He was totally relaxed and so very nice. What a nice guy he is. And pretty. Damn.

And then it was over and then he was gone and we were all left grinning ear to ear……

Thanks for reading. I hope that gave you a bit of the vibe of the thing. For me, these experiences aren’t so much about the questions and answers, but about the experience of sharing 30 minutes with these guys, in close quarters and getting to see them in a slightly different environment, a bit more relaxed. They seem to enjoy it too. That, for me, is the special bit.

Oh there was one other thing….he told us how much season 7 cost to produce. He instantly realised he probably shouldn’t have said it. I love how Jared sometimes does that, speaks and then goes “O-oh, whoops.” He said that we didn’t hear it from him! Out of respect for Jared…I’m going to keep it under my hat. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere, but I ain’t sayin’!

Next up….Jensen….*sigh* You can read it here

If you missed part one you can read it here