paratti

I have a theory why the Winchester boys seem destined to fall in and out of Hell and Mom and Jesse got flambéed - once when life was good a hard workin' man kicked back a bit from going home to a tired wife, a cryin' baby and an inexhaustible kid and went to a bar for a well earned beer to wash down all that happiness. There was this English guy, stranger in town, looked like it too - blond wavy hair just a little too punk for the Heartland, trench coat that had seen better days and too many miles but still stood out from all that plaid, the gin and tonics chasing the Guinness he kept complaining about, while all the while chain-smoking, asking directions to some woman called Missouri, and talking about lost girls and ungrateful vegetables. In short, not a guy that would have lasted two minutes in the Core, buy hey, John Winchester weren't raised to be no bad host to strangers thousands of miles from home, not when Mary made a mean pot-roast and, okay, it seemed like a real good idea after the last beer. And it was, Dean was all eyes listening to the stranger talk on worlds far from Lawrence and Mary, once she'd glared at John real proper, even Mary she got the stranger talking about London, England and the Royal Family and only had to cover Dean's ears once or twice. It was a good evening, maybe it was so good 'cos it was one o' the last, but there are moments when John Winchester is fighting his way to the boundaries of Hell, so that any chance he gets he can get to his boys that he thinks about that evening and wishes as he burns that John Constantine never called him and his, "Mates, real mates."


Now, the episode.
First: The Good.
The obligatory Oh, Dean!!!!!!!!
Good Emo Porn, as I'd expect from Supernatural.
I liked that resurrecting Sam had a cost, a real cost and a huge one. Selling one's soul to burn after a very short time - sure beats a gift with purchase or the character being a pain for the rest of the series.
I also think that it does provide both a built in bang up finale and with the escaped demons a built in arc of how to get Dean out of the deal without turning Sam to rotted meat.
I like that they didn't faff around with killing the YED and that Dean got to do it.
Dean/Crossroads Demon PWP with a massive side-order of Angst please.
Sam apologising to Bobby after his losing it reflected well on Dean.
I liked that Sam worked it out and wouldn't stop either working it out or giving Dean the works over it.
I'm happy Ellen survived.
Bobby is the best Honoury Uncle Ever and I loved him calling Dean on his Issues.
Sam shot the fuck out of Vile Jake.
Daddy Winchester forced his way out of Hell - and think of the queue and the competition in that queue - on his own, as his boys weren't dumb enough to open up Hell to do it themselves.
Daddy Winchester saved his boys - though at least one of them is too much a chip off the old block for his own good.
The boys, Bobby and Ellen worked out the answer and the Devil's Trap through hard research and knowledge rather than having it presented by some tart in a white frock out of no-where.
I like the poetry of the Colt and the Winchester's and the fitting together with last year's finale.
Sam's really crossed the line with the multiple capping - I love it.

Unfortunately: The bad.
Jake being not only Evil enough to go in for the multiple stabbing in the back but being dumb enough to willingly going along with the YED's plan to open up Hell when it obvious he would be first in line to be fried reinforced the concerns about the racial portrayal of the show I had last week. That shot of Jake (even Evil Jake) facing an all-white group of goodies pointing guns at him rubbed me up the wrong way.
Having Ellen be the one victimised by Jake using pusher power to get her to point her own gun at her also did the same. It would have had possibly even more resonance if they'd done the same with Bobby - the one that's been shown as closest to the boys without adding to the women as victim column.
I don't have a problem with women/minorities ethnic or otherwise being shown as evil/dead/dumb etc - as long as there is balance. I know that with a show with only two regulars that most diverse casting opportunities are going to be as recurring and case of the weeks and I applaud that they have brought in three recurring characters that are black, but making them all antagonists is perhaps taking the term 'shadow double' too literally. More kick ass characters like Cassie or some black hunters that aren't psychotic would help balance things out so that when Jake or Gordon get their just deserts there aren't any disturbing undercurrents. Missouri is a stereotype, but at least if she was there kicking spiritual and the boys ass there would be a better balance.
On a similar and related front, I could really have done with one of the characters asking if Jo was still alive and if Ellen does becoming Evil next season I will be most displeased.
Moving onto the technicalities - that Crossroad Blues part of the recap totally wrecked any OMG to the whole Dean sells his soul to get Sam back as it was pretty damned obvious that it was there for a reason.
No-where near enough Daddy Winchester.
And the pacing felt curiously off.

Heads off to re-watch Crossroad Blues to look for loopholes.

On the Yay Side of the Force, my passport finally arrived and is too small and the wrong colour.
On The Boo Hiss, Bloody Typical Side of the Force, it arrived mid-way through me watching Supernatural.