S02.E12: Nightshifter

[Wayward Son]

I'm possibly the only supernatural fan who is not in love with this episode! I find it too generic bank hostage situation for my tastes! I wouldn't say it's a terrible episode it's just not a special one for me. 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Wayward Son

[Katy M]

37 minutes ago, Wayward Son said:

I'm possibly the only supernatural fan who is not in love with this episode! I find it too generic bank hostage situation for my tastes! I wouldn't say it's a terrible episode it's just not a special one for me. 

I'll join you.  I've always found this epi to be just OK, and wonder what's wrong with me, when so many people list this epi as their fave of season 2, or even of the whole series.  I did like Ron and the escape at the end, but it just didn't WOW me.

[gonzosgirrl]

I mentioned music cues in another thread and I can never think about music and SPN  in the same beat without thinking about this episode. For me, Renegade is probably my single favourite use of music in the whole series. And honestly, did anyone ever look hotter in a knit cap than this?

[bettername2come]

I love this episode. One of the best ever with possibly my favorite exchange of the series (I have far too many to be certain):

Ronald: You workin' for the mandroid?!

Sam: We're not working for the mandroid!

Ronald: You shut up! I ain't talkin' to you! I don't like you!

Sam: Fair enough. 

 

I feel like the old lady in Titanic as I reminisce about my younger days watching Supernatural, but nostalgia plays a part in how I watch these, so I still remember when the newcast bit first interrupted the "Then" segment and my roommate and I freaked out, thinking we'd be missing Supernatural. It's got some great people in peril with the confused Sherrie with the crush on Dean, Okey Dokey security guard and poor Ronald. Dean being all practical and taking a knife into the bank because he's not just gonna walk in there naked. I love Sam freaking out at helping the world's worst hostage taker and trying to be nice to the hostages when he and Dean end up in charge.

Henrickson! I love him! I kinda want Dean to punch him in the face for badmouthing John (at least when I do it, it's true stuff). I always like the ones where we get to see they boys from an outsider's perspective because it has that gray area of neither side being bad, and Sam and Dean having to be careful because the ones after them aren't actually bad guys. And I love Sam actually getting to kick ass so him beating up the SWAT guys is one of my favorites. 

Renegade! "We are so screwed." Never had heard the song before this episode, so the "YEAH!" and upbeat tempo threw me off. A great musical moment.

[catrox14]

Oh, Nightshifter, how do I love thee. Let me count a few of the ways because if I don't limit myself I will just re-quote the entire episode and shower it with all the heart eyes and it will be gross.

The boys look so pretty. I like Sam's hair when it's slightly pulled back off his face.  They still look like male-modelin' sonsabitches in coveralls.

I love Ronald. Poor guy was so perfectly weird.  "I'm not talking to you. I don't like you!"

I love Dean being rather proud of Ronald for figuring it out. IMO, he was kind of crushed along with Ronald when Sam refused to validate Ronald's findings. 

"I like him. He says 'Okey, dokey'". It's such a genuinely sweet reaction from Dean. He really did like him. He smiled all fondly about it.  It also let Dean feel free to say "okey, dokey" himself a couple of times, letting out his inner dork to go along letting out some of his inner nerd with Ronald and T2/mandroid exchange.

This episode was a good reminder of how Sam can really be one cold SOB when he feels like it even without any kind of supernatural influence. It was good to remind the audience that he wasn't one dimensional and to shade him a little better. Also foreshadowing, IMO

HELLO, Victor Fucking Henricksen. I love that character. I loved the exchange between him and Dean on the phone. This was a good reminder that Dean is still pretty messed up about John because even though he is starting to see that he has issues with John, he was not about to let some stranger much less a cop insult John.  Just fantastic work by Jensen and Charles in that scene. 

Rene-fuckin'-gade.

Okay I'll stop now.

 

Okay, I lied.  The fight between Dean and the shapeshifter was awesome! Brutal!

[gonzosgirrl]

I'll just +1 everything @catrox14 said, but I have to repeat and proclaim my love for the closing scene. Renegade remains my favourite musical cue of the series.

I hate that Ronald had to die. :(

[catrox14]

18 minutes ago, gonzosgirrl said:

I'll just +1 everything @catrox14 said, but I have to repeat and proclaim my love for the closing scene. Renegade remains my favourite musical cue of the series.

I hate that Ronald had to die. :(

For me, the only other music cue that is close to Renegade is Don't Fear the Reaper in Faith, and the Long Black Road for the s10 midseason premiere Road So Far.

[DeeDee79]

On 6/27/2017 at 4:42 PM, catrox14 said:

For me, the only other music cue that is close to Renegade is Don't Fear the Reaper in Faith, and the Long Black Road for the s10 midseason premiere Road So Far.

I'll co-sign and add Back in the Saddle from Like A Virgin. And you hit all of the points that make this one of my top 5 episodes of the series.

[Iju]

On 5/21/2017 at 8:53 PM, gonzosgirrl said:

I mentioned music cues in another thread and I can never think about music and SPN  in the same beat without thinking about this episode. For me, Renegade is probably my single favourite use of music in the whole series. And honestly, did anyone ever look hotter in a knit cap than this?

HAHA! true ;)

----------

wow. this episode is a MESS (but a good one)! i had to rewatch with my mother because she came in on the middle and wanted to know what was going on, so i showed her the next night. but dang. the episode started out so well, so simple. then a simple person had to throw everything off course. more people were killed thanks to the shapeshifter switching bodies, and since ronald was killed by that stupid sniper (he had no idea if that was an innocent or guilty person) dean and sam will be blamed for that as well...sigh...as i said, a MESS! it's really not the boy's fault, but i wonder how john would have handled this. would it have been the same or different?

btw:

Quote

Well, you're not the typical suspect, are you, Dean?
(DEAN looks horrified)
I want you and Sam out here, unarmed. Or we come in. And yes, I know about Sam too. Bonnie to your Clyde. 
DEAN
Yeah, well, that part's true, but how'd you even know we were here?
HENRIKSEN
Go screw yourself, that's how I knew. It's become my job to know about you, Dean. I've been looking for you for weeks now. I know about the murder in St. Louis, I know about the Houdini act you pulled in Baltimore. I know about the desecrations and the thefts. I know about your dad. 
DEAN
(darkly)
Hey, you don't know crap about my dad. 
HENRIKSEN
Ex-marine, raised his kids on the road, cheap motels, backwood cabins. Real paramilitary survivalist type. I just can't get a handle on what type of whacko he was. White supremacist, Timmy McVeigh, to-may-to, to-mah-to.
DEAN
You got no right talking about my dad like that. He was a hero. 

poor dean darling :( he's so very tender over his father, he defends him even against people he doesn't know. especially how jensen delivered that, dean always goes soft whenever his father is brought up in a bad light. 

anyway, this episode is one of the best in the season for sure. great twists and turns, great OST, and am fully in agreement with dean: "Man, we are so screwed."

[DeeDee79]

Just watched this for the thousandth time and was once again blown away by the awesomeness of Ronald and Victor as characters.

Spoiler

Why couldn't they have been amongst the ones brought back in the AU this past season?

Such wasted potential for both characters.

[Zipper]

So much to love in the ep. The consistency of the humor really helps balance out the sad and scary. Dean's "you're a patriot" and finger gun at the jewelry shop girl, HEE. Ronald's mandroid with laser eyes speech, his pure excitement at having a willing audience. The Okey-Dokey. Dean's camera focus on a derriere. "This is NOT a robbery." Ronald slips in the goo, then man-screams just so. The sheepish look Dean gives Sherry when he puts her back in the vault. Sam's utter frustration at being told to help Ronald "manage the situation," played with anger but also for humor. Even after Ronald's demise, the LEO response to Feds arrival, "Oh crap... oh crap." Then when Sherry faints dead away? Never fails to make me laugh.

Also liked the Sam fixed his hair to a more professional look for his FBI persona. It's the details.

YAY! Agent Henricksen... "Crazy's in there, and I just hung up on it." But I appreciate that he acknowledges the skill and smarts the Winchesters have. 

When Dean headbutts the shifter, I cheer. 

Lord, I forgot how much I loved Renegade as a music cue in this episode. Classic rock is in my blood from way back, and this show's first few seasons made me pretty nostalgic for the olden days. ;)

[DeeDee79]

1 hour ago, Zipper said:

So much to love in the ep. The consistency of the humor really helps balance out the sad and scary. Dean's "you're a patriot" and finger gun at the jewelry shop girl, HEE. Ronald's mandroid with laser eyes speech, his pure excitement at having a willing audience. The Okey-Dokey. Dean's camera focus on a derriere. "This is NOT a robbery." Ronald slips in the goo, then man-screams just so. The sheepish look Dean gives Sherry when he puts her back in the vault. Sam's utter frustration at being told to help Ronald "manage the situation," played with anger but also for humor. Even after Ronald's demise, the LEO response to Feds arrival, "Oh crap... oh crap." Then when Sherry faints dead away? Never fails to make me laugh.

Also liked the Sam fixed his hair to a more professional look for his FBI persona. It's the details.

YAY! Agent Henricksen... "Crazy's in there, and I just hung up on it." But I appreciate that he acknowledges the skill and smarts the Winchesters have. 

When Dean headbutts the shifter, I cheer. 

Lord, I forgot how much I loved Renegade as a music cue in this episode. Classic rock is in my blood from way back, and this show's first few seasons made me pretty nostalgic for the olden days. ;)

Yes to all of this! This is my absolute favorite Supernatural episode!

[The Companion]

Unsurprisingly, I loved this episode. Being a Whovian, the reference was probably enough to do it alone. Honestly, I think most of my comments are covered.

It was about time that their past caught up with them. The guys are wandering around crime scenes, picking up potential murder weapons,  etc. I loved the story and the tension of being stuck in the bank. This was a really really good one.