The Companion

It reminded me of the same. And seriously, least secret bunker ever. At least upgrade the locks, guys. Agreed. I hate the secrets and lies garbage. Even though I haven't loved this season and I hated Amara, I have liked the better communication between the brothers. Yeah, I feel like we shouldn't have to say xenocide is wrong. I feel like that should be a given? This was where I got a bit stabby. They are hunters. Urgent should only be used for major life threatening issues. To play the urgent card so she could talk to Sam? That was some serious bullshit. I was angry. I honestly couldn't blame Sam for leaving a placeholder letter and rushing to Mary assuming she was in danger (with the caveat that I assume for my own sanity that he intended to update Dean once he got the lay of the land). She should know that a fake emergency is a huge violation on top of everything else. They are all dead because I cannot stomach the idea that Bloodlines ever shows back up. But have they gotten involved with a Sicilian when death is in the line? I admit, I was super pissed at Mary in this episode and full team Winchester boys. This perspective does actually help me get past some of my anger because I think it is right. She died in the 1980s when that was very much the image of mother. There was a lot of panic about latchkey kids and a lot of thinking of the children (hell, I still get bullshit for being a working mother). So, I think it is fair to say that some of this may be Mary's assumptions of what mother means and her inability to reconcile those assumptions with parenting adults. I am still not impressed with the effort she has put in and still pissed about a lot of her decisions, but this does make me pause. This is a good point. We have seen the monsters go into overdrive as a defense mechanism before and it isn't pretty. Stop invoking that episode. I heard if you mention it three times, a rerun of it will haunt you. Shit. Nothing to see here. 😆 I could use a professional makeup artist then. The baby is sick and I am not sure there is enough concealer in all the land. Lol. On the bright side, I got a lot of the show binged If I ignore the parts that make me stabby, I actually enjoyed this one. I liked that both boys were on the same page (in the beginning). I actually enjoyed watching Dean on a pure vampire hunt and I really enjoyed the siege. It was tense and entertaining. Better than a lot of episodes in this season from that perspective. I think JA and JP continue to hit it out of the park with some fairly tough scenes. If there is one thing Mary's reappearance has done, it is to give the guys some really good emotional stuff to work with. I would change a lot of it if I could, but I give credit to the guys for doing their best with what they've got. On a purely random note, they really shouldn't ask non Louisianans to pronounce Atchafalaya. Because that was just painful. It's uh-cha-fuh-lie-yuh. I hate that Sam is on board and I don't buy it for all the reasons listed in this thread. Sigh.

Is it wrong that I laughed? Read the spoiler and, siiiigh.

Same. I do not care about Lucifer one iota. Agreed. Crowley is all about self preservation and I call total bullshit that he would prioritize revenge, particularly where it involved Lucifer, over having him locked away in the cage. If Lucifer is alive, even enslaved, he can work an angle. Hell, Crowley JUST DID THAT HIMSELF. I loved it. I love Rowena. She is a terrible, conniving, self interested, petty witch. It makes he a great villain. You can never quite get comfortable with her. You never quite know what angle she is playing. Even in the end, was 100% of her reaction here acting so she could hurt Crowley, or did she realize she could hurt him and use it to her advantage? Yup. I cringed as soon as her story started because you knew where it was going. I think this is spot on. The show has trouble establishing the stakes and building a threat. I complained about it last season with Amara. She took a few souls and disappeared. It wasn't particularly menacing. I don't think they have established the threat here, and the past example of a Nephilim waitress is countering the dread here. I hate babies in science fiction and particularly babies that age quickly. Plus they literally just did that story. Yet, it's not great to be like: KILL THE BABY. I'm not Walder Frey. 😆 I definitely did but after 10 years of infertility and a miscarriage, I was a hot mess and feeling the baby move kept me sane. But also, it's a good defensive move. Weirdos on the elevator don't try to grab your belly when you are already touching it. 🙄 In fairness to baby Amara, we didn't see them give that poor child one bottle. Newborns eat constantly. Like every 1-2 hours. 😆 I can see this being where they go. I didn't hate this one, mainly because I did find the Crowley/Rowena stuff interesting and the ghost was pretty great. I am relieved to have the secrets and lies resolved into actual conflict. I felt for both of the guys here. I think it has been fully covered, but I thought both guys nailed it in showing real and believable pain and sadness.

Perhaps it is 5 surviving beings in this world? Because otherwise 5 may be low. I am dying at the idea of them trying to take out the whales via colt. 😆 I can't help but write a Douglas Adams style dialogue in my head about it. Also, this is particularly funny after a recent episode of The Magicians. It struck me as strange at the time, too. When people say "I love you" you expect an "I love you too." I didn't see it as cold or nonreciprocal for the reasons you mention, but it was jarring for me. It is really odd. This isn't the first time I felt like the show expected us to believe a motive or relationship without actually showing it to us. The most glaring example being Samelia (sorry to resurface that one) where we kept being told Sam was barely hanging on and where we kept being told they had some sweeping romance but the on screen interaction failed to deliver either. For my own sanity, at least for now, I am gonna try and go with it but her failure to give up the weapon did make me really angry. Same point as above. I think she was talking about Castiel but I think it was also unearned. I think you are correct that we are supposed to conclude there was more bonding there and/or she respects Castiel's relationship with the boys enough to consider him family too. Anyone else getting Clue flashbacks? 😊 I hate the secrets and lies. My only consolation is that if they didn't bring back Mary, this would be Sam working secretly with them, stealing the gun, etc. The writers seem to feel like this story is one worth telling over and over and over. This made me giggle so hard The special effects in this show really are phenomenal. They are so gross and gory. This one had a great squick factor. Ha! I love it. I am sad to say that I liked Tolkien when I was younger but I went back recently and found LOTR unreadable. I can actually buy that it is easier with someone who has no history or expectations. I hated this episode, but probably more because I find Tarantino and non linear stories like this tedious. If we are going non linear, I need some clever reveals to justify it. Anyway, my dislike of the source material definitely colored my response. I agree that Mary is not likeable and I can't figure out how the writers thought this would all go down. She seems to care or not based on the needs of the story. I feel like the writers want us to assume things that aren't shown. It's a mess. It is interesting how many of the old demons retired. Guess being evil gets old.

Thank you. I don't watch Young and The Restless, so it must have been AHS. My face blindness does sometimes work against me so that people I don't know feel familiar (as opposed to the more common way it affects me where people out of context are unrecognizable to me), but I watched the first season obsessively, so it's a likely candidate. I disliked Julia for a long time, but she has grown on me. Totally get why she would be unlikable, though, given that I didn't warm up to her for several seasons. I think the Penny relationship reminds me if my ex. He liked being my boyfriend. He liked showing off how great of a boyfriend he was. He talked a huge game about loving me. But one day I realized he didn't actually like me. He was constantly putting down my interests and the things I did. He wasn't particularly proud of my accomplishments. Our relationship was about what he wanted. I mean, Julia is going through some heavy stuff right now and Penny barely asks her how she is doing. He is so focused on his own vision of the future, that he doesn't really care about what Julia wants. I feel like they want us to think end game for these two, and I really don't want that. ETA: To your point about Julia as heart, I agree. They have her interacting with everyone but it is due to circumstance. You can't just retcon close relationships for Julia and the others so that she ties them together. She and Alice mourned together. She and Kady had mutual respect in times of crisis. She is interacting with the Fillory group because she is there to save Fillory. But none of that replaces the deep and meaningful relationships Q had with the other characters. You don't get the feeling that Julia would be talking to Fen if she wasn't in Fillory. It just leaves the audience wondering what big thing they thought was so important that they had to make room for it by taking away Quentin. Sigh.

That is discouraging to hear. He was fantastic here. He has this great ability to know when to be subtle and when to lean into a scene, if that makes sense. I think you are correct that his memory loss was actually retroactive, so perhaps I should have said the cavalier way they treated it even though he actually wasn't impaired when he gave consent. This was probably one of the less problematic examples of consent issues on the show, but it still felt like they were saying: it's cool cause she is hot and he's a dude. Coming off the literal mindfuck earlier in the season, it felt squicky. Given that it wasn't really central to the episode, why have it go down that way? Why not have him flirting and then standing her up? If they wanted to include it, at least don't play it for laughs.

It cannot be said enough. Also, I am now mad we didn't get to see his reaction to this bit of news. This show and consent. Sigh. I do appreciate that they had her immediately turn from angry to distressed that she might have taken advantage of him. I immediately thought of Yellow Fever and how much better this episode was. This was a beautiful bit of acting from JP. All of this, pretty much. There were so many great emotional moments in this one. JA and JP knocked it out of the park. I really like Rowena, and I actually didn't mind the softening of her character here, which felt much more earned and much less demeaning than the story she told before getting her neck snapped like a chicken (still mad). I also loved that she had multiple motivations (revenge, power, a favor and a softening towards the Winchesters). It was just so perfectly Rowena. There were a lot of people who identified with the memory loss because of dementia and Alzheimers (and to be clear, if I liked something you said it was a "sending love and thanks for sharing" like because nobody likes these heartbreaking conditions). I used to do trusts and estates work and I worked with many families who struggled with these conditions. I thought the depiction was spot on enough to hit a lot of the right notes and I appreciated that the show treated memory loss with some gravity. There were a lot of scenes with real emotional heft. Obviously, the mirror scene was incredible. So was watching Sam start to realize something was seriously wrong and his reaction when his brother pranked him. I loved that we saw realistic denial from Dean (so many of my clients lied and tried to hide their memory loss out of embarrassment). I thought there was a great balance between levity, sadness and despair. Rowena was peak awesome. I love her as a character and as a villain and I really enjoyed getting her without Crowley (despite how much I love the way she draws out FER-GUS). The only miss for me (other than the consent issues, sigh) was the sister witch. I thought she made some really weird choices. She was so melodramatic and her mannerisms were so much. I wondered if she just had a lot of theater background and didn't know how to scale down for the camera or something. She took me out of the episode. Luckily, she wasn't in it much so I could deal. I haven't loved this season, so this one was a pleasant surprise.

Honestly, the Dark King was providing information slowly to Eliot and Margeliot. It seems like they could have tried to dig just a smidge before jumping to killing him. He keeps talking about a deal and how he has to be king. It seems like something other than ego might be at play here. In fact, I don't see how it could be interpreted any other way. These guys are familiar with deals and magic coming at a price, etc. Right? Where is Kady? Why didn't they just kill of Kady and keep Quentin if they didn't want to include her in the show anymore? I sadly agree that this show has almost 0 chance of renewal. You don't lose almost half of your target audience (down 44%) and get to continue. They took a risk and even if they thought it might get eyes on their show it should have been clear from the fallout that things were not going to go well. The entire thing was mishandled. They better stick a landing this season, because they had time to prepare for the very real possibility that the show was done. If they actually want a chance at at least ensuring longevity on Netflix, they may consider re-shooting the ending to bring back Quentin, because it is absolutely clear that the fans are not happy with his death. I actually don't remember another fan response this clear. I actually thought she got some good lines in there about being a parent and having a baby. The loss she suffered when the fairies took her daughter has been glossed over for awhile, but they did give her a bit of meat here. I was glad for that because I agree that they have dropped a lot of pretty critical pieces of character development for her. I admit that I am not thrilled about a baby storyline, but what can you do? It is better than trying to hide an obvious baby bump or essentially writing Julia out because of her pregnancy. Frankly, my biggest fear is that they use this as an excuse to have Julia land back with Penny 23. I still despise everything about that relationship. I don't feel like Penny cares about Julia. What she wants, who she is, what she needs. It all takes a back seat to his own feelings. As far as the episode itself, I thought it was handled well so I guess I will just have to wait and see. I enjoyed Eliargo and Marliot. Agreed that they definitely had fun being each other. There is something really special about how they have written this friendship. The way that Margo recognizes when Eliot is feeling self-destructive. The way she validates his feelings. Also the way that Eliot can often get Margo to pull back. Honestly, they are what is keeping me in this show right now. I am a little bummed about the Josh/Margo breakup because I just think it is boring to constantly have couples breaking up. It tells me that the writers don't think they can write a compelling story with a relationship. Margo showed a lot of personal growth in the way she handled her feelings last year. She had to marry her self-image as a badass independent woman with actually opening herself up and being vulnerable. I loved the point she got to, which is why I find the current state of affairs so frustrating to watch. Don't get me wrong, it is on brand for her to avoid her feelings. It just sucks that we had to have a Freaky Friday to break them up and that Margo feels like she is backsliding a bit. I also really like Josh. The way he is supportive of Margo. The way he doesn't let his feelings get in the way of helping stop apocalypses. The stress baking. I am not a big shipper in general (Queliot being a very large exception), but I thought they were interesting together and I don't feel like the breakup is a particularly interesting narrative for either of them. So I am not mad about the couple so much as I am bored by the choice. Does anyone know who played the visiting botanist? I liked the Brakebills zombie spore story but it felt so removed from the other storyline. It was a bit jarring. The weird choice to allow a potentially contagious magician on campus and the failure to make a copy of a critical document aside, there were some interesting and watchable parts there. I continue to like the new botanist whose name I really need to commit to memory (sorry, I am being lazy). I thought the discussion of grief was actually pretty well handled. I don't know how I feel about the solution of infecting a bunch of people with the spores on the theory that the consciousness will be trapped. It seems fairly risky. That being said, I liked it overall. I do find it interesting that they still can't write Alice with any of the other members of the group. She was really only held to the group by Quentin and while they have had her bond with others since his death, a lot of her scenes in the last two episodes have been with a new character. The internal cohesion of the group is falling apart. It's also my objection with having Kady off on an entirely unrelated storyline. When your ensemble show splits up the ensemble this much, it doesn't hold together as well and it makes for episodes where you feel like you have whiplash because the storylines feel entirely unconnected. The show generally does a good job of bringing it all back together, but this year it feels particularly disconnected for me.

Yup. This is the second episode in a row where I laughed at an exploding character. I may have a problem. 😆 I am intrigued by the new botany professor. Plus they let Alice be useful, so good for her. Margo and Eliot continue to be awesome. I loved Margo's assertion that she had been there the entire time. Also, poor Eliot. You do deserve better. By better I mean Quentin. 😭 Fuck Penny 23. Penny was one of my favorite characters and then we got new Penny and I can't stand him. They can try to convince us that he hasn't replaced his Julia all they want, but he certainly doesn't seem to like or respect this Julia. Oh, you want to settle down? That is . . . Never whar Julia has expressed she wanted. Oh, your feelings are hurt so you are gonna lash out about mourning her best friend? And then whine that she is doing something meaningful because another Julia died and all that matters are your feelings? Seriously, fuck off. If I press the big red button, can an alternate Penny come?

They survived and got to kiss on screen. I am calling it a win. It took me awhile to get around to this episode, but I thought it was okay. I love the sweeping locations and I really liked the astronaut and his husband. I liked the mystery but then found myself somewhat underwhelmed in the end. In part, it is hard to get super excited about bacteria, though the makeup/shell looking skin growths were cool. The birds were ultimately the creepiest part to me. But in the end, I didn't feel like it was one I would want to watch again. Coming off of Fugitive of Judoon (which was so fantastic), it was hard to get into this one.

So secret that even the writers didn't know about them? 😆

Sorry, Cas can't do it because *spins wheel* plot reasons.

Sure, but are you performing enough autopsies to merit a fully equipped morgue? I am less surprised they would want one in this case, and more wondering why they would have the table and body storage, etc.

This episode had all of the highlights of reasons I love this show, but I am still so upset about Quentin that it made me realize that I may never have the same enthusiasm that I had before they killed him off. It's a shame. Still, Margo and Eliot are my favorite parts of the show. I loved how they tried to come up with a solution by partying. I love getting a lot of Eliot after missing him last season. I am a sucker for heists and time loops, so this is as good as it gets. Lol. I also love that she doesn't expect him to be anyone other than who he is. She saw that he wasn't okay and basically said: okay, you sit this one out. I think that is one of the things this show does right. Characters recognize trauma or depression or grief and recognize that they cannot fix it. Heee. I loved that line. I loved when Eliot acknowledged that it sounded like her. I have to throw in some love for Josh and his stress baking and love of time loop stories. I really liked these episodes, but as I mentioned above it still felt like something was missing for me. I am scared I won't be able to fully enjoy any of this season because of my bitterness. Sigh. Nonetheless, I loved the ridiculous and absurd here. I thought Penny exploding was hilarious (sorry Penny). Of course whales are magicians. What else would they be? I loved the sleep deprivation and the return of Charlton and Marina. It was a solid outing for me.

I actually liked Alicia Witt here. It was funny to see her show up as the polar opposite of the Hallmark Christmas Movie protaganists she typically plays when I see her. She has this sort of flat affect that sometimes works against her in the Christmas movies. She doesn't get super worked up so the meet cute/annoyed with the guy she ends up with scenes don't always work. I thought it actually worked in her favor here as a semi-soulless human. Ultimately, I always find her super likeable and I have never really been able to explain why. I did find the character to be difficult to buy. She studied angels and learned that much about them even though people who study supernatural beings for a living have often dismissed the possibility that they even exist? She knows Enochian? whatever. Hand wave. The fact that they had these vessels so long was absolutely horrifying to me. I guess Benjamin had some sort of interaction with his host, but the rest of them had such contempt for humans. Some poor person was stuck inside that vessel. I find the lack of contact really weird. I suspect this is like when one of them has to act like they don't know what a particular monster is. Still, it is a bizarre writing choice. Not to defend Mary because she should definitely be making more of an effort, but I don't think she should try to be like John "I faked my own disappearance and refused to tell my sons I was safe or even show up when one of them was dying" Winchester. This was how I read it. I do think it was a sloppy and poorly thought out bit of dialogue all around. Maybe I am wrong and this all turns into something more, but I am currently falling into the clunky exposition category. It felt like the clunky exposition we typically get at the beginning of an episode. Similar to the "she's in the wind" conversations. They are throw away dialogue to tell us that they won't be addressing the main baddie, Mary, etc. Agreed. I really liked that parallel and that she had no interest in being a threat to humans. Despite the difficult to swallow explanation for how she could know so much about angels and perform their magic, etc., I liked the underlying story and the parallels. I loved the video game and the visual of the three guys in a booth. Lady Castiel (Young Castiel as she is billed on IMDB) was gorgeous. I sorta wanted to explore a different Castiel a bit more. I would have liked to see more contrast. We have watched the character grow over seasons and it would have been interesting to revisit that. I really liked the scene where Lily talked about being patient and about Dean being in trouble. I also liked the interaction when they got there and Sam told Dean he changed his mind. I didn't love the Dean/Castiel silent treatment scenes, but I did like that there was some fallout for Castiel's decision. Overall, this season feels clunky to me. I can't really put my finger on why. Even this one, where I liked the story, didn't quite engage me the way last season's one off episodes did.

That's a good point. A fully equipped morgue with an employed coroner? Don't they know why people die in their custody? Why are they performing autopsies? Wouldn't they want fewer records of the people they killed? It isn't like they are preparing for Court cases. I have questions. 😂

Agreed. They have never been able to write him in a satisfying way because he is too powerful. They have to nerf him or the answer to all problems will be "where's Cas?" It makes for a frustrating watch, though, because it seems his powers fluctuate with the plot.

While that is true, I still would expect some security around a morgue. I guess I can fanwank no cameras and easy access so they can move bodies without a record of it?

It's so tough when an actor/actress doesn't work for you, especially one as central to the story as Mary has been this season (and doubly so when she has been built up for 12 seasons). This was how I felt about Amara. I just couldn't buy her as a primordial being and felt like a lot of her acting choices were bad. I think I was just grateful in this episode that they let the guys do something together and let them be badasses. I get so tired of the dumb (see how they got arrested in the first place) and the sudden incompetence (luckily, it appears the guards caught that particular plot-induced condition instead).

Yes, this is exactly right to me. The episode was enjoyable but the plot hols were large enough to drive a truck through and I cannot accept the idea that this was worse than hell or the cage. It doesn't help that they just reminded us a few episodes how resilient Sam was in the face of torture. These guys have both had extreme experiences that make it highly unbelievable that they would crack. Especially if it meant one of them dying. They damn well better have gotten every janitor, secret service member, and boss up the chain of command. If anyone is still alive, the Winchesters will be blamed for murdering the entire lot on their way out the door. Hee. I thought the same thing. Oh, secrets, lies, and deals to sacrifice herself? The apple didn't fall far from the tree here. Right? They strolled right out. Not even a locked door between the morgue and the exit. Sigh. It made no sense. They literally re-established these rules not long ago. And as also noted upthread, it was glaring when Mary held the gun up because it was a clear reminder about Billie not killing them. I think I do end up here. I enjoyed the episode despite the holes and retcons. I loved watching the guys work together and outsmart their pursuers. I really am willing to give the show a lot of leeway when the guys work together competently. I loved Castiel's speech. They don't let MC stretch his acting legs nearly enough. I also loved the hug with Mary, her determination to get the guys back and her willingness to sacrifice to save them.

This part was amazing. I didn't love this episode, but this conversation was hilarious. This was so frustrating. There was absolutely no reason for them to stick around. I am such an idiot because I thought of FLOTUS at first so I was like: lover of the US? Lady? Ohhhh Lucifer. I am dumb. 😂 This is one of those episodes that could have been so much better with some rewrites. I did love the Crowley-Rowena scene and the aforementioned conversation about monsters being real. The ending was so ridiculous, though. It made 0 sense. I am also tired of Lucifer. I wish I thought this was the end of him. I don't believe it, though. I also wouldn't be excited about an evil baby storyline on a good day, but on the heels of Amara it is just exhausting

Agreed. Lucifer doesn't make an interesting bad guy. We just had an ancient being throwing a temper tantrum because God wasn't paying attention. Sigh. Yeah, this would be huge news. I saw that and it made me laugh. Overall, this episode sorta felt like a placeholder. It had a lot of set up, but it wasn't particularly interesting or compelling to me.

I can see that. I think I am explaining it poorly on the mom stuff, and I probably won't hit the target anyway. All I am saying is that it seems to me that Dean is looking for comfort in a way that is totally natural. Not that he is demanding that she do things for him or something. Just that he is longing for a different time, or for this to work. Eh, maybe just forget it. I am clearly failing to make this point clear. Let's leave it at: Dean's desire for everything to be fine and his feelings of rejection made me sad.

I did like the Road House (I know that is controversial, lol) and I loved having other hunters again. I was TERRIFIED they would kill Jody. So help me show . . . . I don't want the network to take over the show, but I like when the guys have a network of other hunters, personally. Me too. Hee. I love this idea. This is my only complaint. Then again, I complain about it over and over. I don't get why you wouldn't have holy water beer and make everyone do holy water shots. I mean, the very idea that multiple hunters will be in one place should be enough to want to take precautions. Oh, my heart. I loved this one. I love Jody and her relationship with the boys. I thought the character notes were great and they were set against a really interesting backdrop with new side characters that I found interesting and watchable.

I hear you. This is 100% valid. Please don't let anything I say imply that I don't feel like Dean has every right to feel the way he feels or that I am not devastated for him (or that your feelings here aren't valid). I addressed it in another thread but this storyline is really tough for me because of my fear that my kiddo could feel rejected and hurt some day if he reaches out to his birthfamily.