Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

S12.E20: Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes


  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

RICHARD SPEIGHT, JR. DIRECTS – Alicia Banes (guest star Kara Royster) calls Mary (guest star Samantha Smith) for help after her mother, Tasha (guest star Alvina August), goes missing. Sam (Jared Padalecki) answers Mary’s phone and he and Dean (Jensen Ackles) head out to help Alicia and her twin brother, Max (guest star Kendrick Sampson), find their mother who was hunting a powerful witch. Meanwhile, Mary starts to have some doubts about the British Men of Letters. Writer: Steve Yockey

  • Love 1
Link to comment

So one twin gets killed, and the other goes evil to bring that one back to life.  Come on Supernatural.

Looks like they won't be trying to redeem Lady Bevill.  They must have thrown it aside when the reaction wasn't good.  They had made sure to humanize her with showing the kid, and she had a look of worry when Ketch got called in.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
1 minute ago, auntvi said:

That was good, well done all around. I won't spoil anything, just wanted to share the good feelings.

Surely we don't have to wait until West Coast gets done watching do we?  I'm going to answer that myself and post. 

Sam and Dean are light sleepers.  There better be a reason Sam didn't wake up besides needing a dramatic pause because that could have been accomplished some other way.

Max is an idiot.  He didn't even actually save Alicia.  He just made a new one.  She's still dead.  So, he definitely did that for himself.

Mary is an idiot.  Play along until you can escape.  WEll, too late.

Wouldn't enochian brass knuckles work like regular brass knuckles on  a human?  the brassiness wouldn'isapper just because you're not an angel, right?

  • Love 3
Link to comment

I really enjoyed it!

Well of course, because creepy dolls are my bugaboo. And creepy living dolls made of twigs?!

I liked the ending. Poor Max. Roaming the country with a twig doll "sister" and a dead mom. And poor Tasha, and poor Alicia!

Interesting episode. Will do for a rewatch, tbh.

Mary even earned some respect. I would have been much sneakier about getting away from Ketch. Even as I was thinking, "stop being so reckless and naive!" I appreciated that she stood up to him. Hmm.

  • Love 6
Link to comment

Oh yeah, and I was just thinking last weekend that I wanted to hear more bluegrass on this show! So thanks for the bluegrass/folk soundtrack to the climactic montage, SPN!

  • Love 3
Link to comment
Just now, Katy M said:

Surely we don't have to wait until West Coast gets done watching do we?  I'm going to answer that myself and post.

Nope, as soon as the EC airs it's all fair game.

1 minute ago, Katy M said:

Sam and Dean are light sleepers.  There better be a reason Sam didn't wake up besides needing a dramatic pause because that could have been accomplished some other way.

Residual spell works from Lady FuckoffandDie kicking in once she came stateside again?

Sam looked peaceful like when he was in her spell shit.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
3 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Max is an idiot.  He didn't even actually save Alicia.  He just made a new one.  She's still dead.  So, he definitely did that for himself.

Sam did that callback to Dean telling him, "Dad's on a hunting trip, and he hasn't been home in a few days." I think Max bringing twig!Alicia to life was another callback, to what Dean said a little later in the pilot -- that he wanted Sam to come with him, because he couldn't do it alone.

  • Love 7
Link to comment
3 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

 

Residual spell works from Lady FuckoffandDie kicking in once she came stateside again?

Sam looked peaceful like when he was in her spell shit.

You always come up with such interesting theories.  I like it.

Just now, rue721 said:

Sam did that callback to Dean telling him, "Dad's on a hunting trip, and he hasn't been home in a few days." I think Max bringing twig!Alicia to life was another callback, to what Dean said a little later in the pilot -- that he wanted Sam to come with him, because he couldn't do it alone.

Yeah, I get that he can't/doesn't want to do it alone.  But, it was still stupid.

  • Love 3
Link to comment

I'm definitely going to need to watch this one again, because I'm not exactly sure what was going on with the old woman?  Was she a witch who'd sold her soul and was going to hell?  I think I must have missed something somewhere.  

I enjoyed seeing the twins again, but things certainly didn't work out well for them.  I wonder if they'll be part of the remaining episodes, or whether they'll turn up again next season?  I would think there'd have to be some resolution with them.

It was a nicely balanced episode in that both Sam and Dean were part of the action, so that was good.  And we got our answer for why Mary didn't see Ketch as the psycho that Dean saw...he must have kept that under wraps when he was around her.  I think she was starting to get suspicious about Mick's absence anyway.  Interesting that Ketch still offered her a way out.  I kind of wished she'd played along, but then we wouldn't have our fun torture drama with Lady Bitchface to look forward to.  

My only real complaint is that, as usual, they cram an awful lot into these last few episodes.  Both of the stories in this one could have easily been their own episode, and I think I'd have enjoyed that better.  But it's a whirlwind ride to the finish line!

  • Love 5
Link to comment
1 minute ago, Katy M said:

But, it was still stupid.

My thought is, whatever gets you through the day.

Although I think the show is going to hew closer to your stance. I mean, this same episode proved that Mary isn't a "whatever gets you through the day" girl, for sure :P

  • Love 2
Link to comment
1 minute ago, MysteryGuest said:

I'm definitely going to need to watch this one again, because I'm not exactly sure what was going on with the old woman?  Was she a witch who'd sold her soul and was going to hell?  I think I must have missed something somewhere.  

Yes, she had sold her soul for witch powers, ad she needed to transfer the powers to someone sle to sae her soul, which makes zero sense to me, but whatever.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

BTW props to Dean for calling Mary and leaving a heartfelt message like that. He's really trying. I wouldn't be that open with my mom, and the lady raised me ;)

I appreciated Mary's heartfelt voicemail back. But Mary was also killing me with the lack of texting (ideally, it would have been group texting!), and what with not trying Sam when she couldn't get through to Dean. And her lie about checking her email on Mick's computer. Mary wasn't even around for dumb-phones, which makes the lie even more bizarre.

It was also funny how everyone kept asking about Mary's relationship with Dean and Sam, and how awkward it always was.

Also interesting that Max was saying he could have stopped all this if he had taken Alicia seriously. I wonder if that's foreshadowing anything.

Also appreciated that Tasha was a giant hippy.

Oh, and I laughed when Sam poured his drink into Dean's glass. I do the same with my dad. Like, "take care of this for me, would you?" Hahaha.

  • Love 7
Link to comment
11 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Yes, she had sold her soul for witch powers, ad she needed to transfer the powers to someone sle to sae her soul, which makes zero sense to me, but whatever.

I think if she got someone to take the ring then their soul would be taken instead of hers.  Like, transferring the deal to a replacement soul?  Maybe.

Shallow, Max is gorgeous.  Too bad he's all evil or cursed or whatever now.  Is the purple witch eyes a new thing?

  • Love 5
Link to comment
1 minute ago, TexasGal said:

I think if she got someone to take the ring then their soul would be taken instead of hers.  Like, transferring the deal to a replacement soul?  Maybe.

Shallow, Max is gorgeous.  Too bad he's all evil or cursed or whatever now.  Is the purple witch eyes a new thing?

Yeah, I get that the object was for someone to take the ring and it transferred the deal.  But, why would Heaven let someone in who sold their soul and got the benefits and was killing people and yada yada?  Wouldn't she go to Hell anyway. We know of at least 4 people she murdered.  And that's at the "end of a very long life."

  • Love 5
Link to comment
24 minutes ago, Katy M said:

You always come up with such interesting theories.  I like it

Well thanks. I'm going with there will be residual spellworks in Sam that links with Mary and Mary will be used to try and control Sam in some nefarious way.

Link to comment
5 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

Well thanks. I'm going with there will be residual spellworks in Sam that links with Mary and Mary will be used to try and control Sam in some nefarious way.

I hope so, that actually sounds cool.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
7 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Yeah, I get that the object was for someone to take the ring and it transferred the deal

It doesn't make any sense, as it's a zero sum game for the demon.  It never gets anymore than 1 soul in total.

So even though Sam has no more knowledge about the Colt than Dean and even though Dean is the one with the most connection to and the brother who built his own shotgun as a kid and is way more into weaponry, asks Sam if Sam can fix it.  Not even, "Can we fix it?"  Then again, this is the Dean who's forgotten how to pick a lock,  When is the last time we saw him do that?

  • Love 4
Link to comment

So the wallpaper in Tasha's house was like the wallpaper in Dream a Little Dream of me. My hope is that is foreshadowing that all of this is some fever dream of Dean in prison.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Just now, Lemuria said:

It doesn't make any sense, as it's a zero sum game for the demon.  It never gets anymore than 1 soul in total.

So even though Sam has no more knowledge about the Colt than Dean and even though Dean is the one with the most connection to and the brother who built his own shotgun as a kid and is way more into weaponry, asks Sam if Sam can fix it.  Not even, "Can we fix it?"  Then again, this is the Dean who's forgotten how to pick a lock,  When is the last time we saw him do that?

Honestly, I'll be kind of ticked if either one of them can fix it.  Bobby couldn't fix it when all it needed was bullets back in the day.  The BMOLs didn't know how to make bullets.  This is a one of a kind weapon, so it's not like everybody knows how to make one. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

So I'm super not okay with the show killing off two WoC in Tasha and Alicia to further Max's storyline and his was bad because it's a gay black guy who's now kind of a bad guy for making the deal. This disappoints me on many levels. I don't typically complain about that but come on show???

This is some awful optics and I'm not cool with it.

ETA: Yes I know they made Alicia into a witch bot thing but super not cool.  Sigh :(

Edited by catrox14
  • Love 2
Link to comment
(edited)

ETA: Also, Dabb dragged out his crappy Insta-Shifter bullshit from Bloodlines. 

Honestly, I did not appreciate the 'homages' to the pilot. They didn't work for me and they were so obvious as to be annoying.

Oh and why does Sam have to say pretty much the same thing that were iconic lines for Dean in the pilot? I should just go rent a room in the bitterness thread.

At least Dean had a moment to shoot the ring out of the witch's hand but hey guys, did you really just leave Max when you should have insisted because you know people are going to do stupid things?

And ANOTHER THING.

Why did the BMOL keep dead Mick on ice? What are they going to do with him? That made no sense because they should have put him in a vat of hydrochloric acid, (Walter White would be ashamed of you, Ketch) unless they plan to do something else with it.

Edited by catrox14
  • Love 7
Link to comment
11 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

WoC

What does that stand for?

4 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

ETA: Also, Dabb dragged out his crappy Insta-Shifter bullshit from Bloodlines. 

I hate the insta-Shifting thing too?  But, has anyone shifted any other way since season 5?  I honestly don't think so.

5 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

At least Dean had a moment to shoot the ring out of the witch's hand but hey guys, did you really just leave Max when you should have insisted because you know people are going to do stupid things?

Or, at least taken or destroyed the ring?  That seems like a no-brainer.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
1 minute ago, Katy M said:

What does that stand for?

Women of Color

1 minute ago, Katy M said:

I hate the insta-Shifting thing too?  But, has anyone shifted any other way since season 5?  I honestly don't think so.

You mean the gross gooey shifting? Yes, in Ask Jeeves, the shifter was gooey. 

Link to comment

I actually really enjoyed this episode!

So, does anyone else get the urge to scream "THE TABLE IN THE MAIN ROOM IS AN ANGEL TRACKER!!!" every time Sam & Dean lament that they can't find Cas? Am I the only one who remembers this from like 6 seasons ago? Or did I miss something?

My wife was cringing at the crunching sounds that the twig people were making lol. Very good sound effects!

I wonder if this was basically a villain's origin story (Max). That'd be kinda cool. Set him up as the antagonist of a future story arc.

Loved Mary being a badass and holding her own against Ketch.

Loved the shout-out to the grenade launcher. PLEASE let Dean use it soon!!

Was that Lady McWhatsherface from the beginning of the season?

  • Love 6
Link to comment
1 minute ago, ZennyKenny said:

So, does anyone else get the urge to scream "THE TABLE IN THE MAIN ROOM IS AN ANGEL TRACKER!!!" every time Sam & Dean lament that they can't find Cas? Am I the only one who remembers this from like 6 seasons ago? Or did I miss something?

Did they get that to work?  I thought Sam just mentioned something about it lighting up during the fall and wondering if they could use it, but I don't think they ever came up with a way to make it work on demand.

 

2 minutes ago, ZennyKenny said:

Was that Lady McWhatsherface from the beginning of the season?

Yep.

  • Love 2
Link to comment
Just now, ZennyKenny said:

So, does anyone else get the urge to scream "THE TABLE IN THE MAIN ROOM IS AN ANGEL TRACKER!!!" every time Sam & Dean lament that they can't find Cas? Am I the only one who remembers this from like 6 seasons ago? Or did I miss something?

LOOL that is an excellent point. I think it went haywire after the angels fell, maybe ?

 

Another thing I noticed, was that Dean's picture on the board was of demon!Dean at Gas N Sip. Will Mary notice Dean's black eyes? I suspect Mary has no idea Dean was ever a demon.

  • Love 3
Link to comment
(edited)

I enjoyed the MoTW aspect of it, and I was really feeling for Max, right up until he did the worst possible thing.

Hated that yet another character dropped the Anvil of Very Important Lessons and explained how we come to see our parents as 'real people'. Ugh. Dean is not stupid, nor does he have rose-coloured glasses that need breaking. Please, fuck off with that.

Happy that Dean finally got a kill, but of course it can't be clean - nothing for him to celebrate when her death had such devastating consequences for Max.

As for Mary, her mouth was making mom-like noises, but they are pretty meaningless after 19 episodes of character assassination. Rushing to her boys' defense at this point just rang hollow. I was kind of hoping it was her in the chair. It was a good fight scene, but this super-smart badass hunter we've had shoved down our throats should've known better than to let Ketch know she was on to them. But they needed to push the redemption-arc button and this was the most simplistic way to do it.

I have no idea if Sam was just supposed to be deeply asleep or actually hurt. Hoping for the former, since they never went back to it and Dean was still calm enough to leave the message Lady Twat played.

I have felt this whole season is Dabb's long-game bid for a spin-off, and nothing about this episode changed my mind.

 

ETA: Almost forgot:

How the hell did they leave that ring behind?

And I laughed a little when Ketch exposited all his human kills to Mary. Such a lazy way to get that information over to Team Winchester. These writers. Oy.

Edited by gonzosgirrl
  • Love 5
Link to comment

Didn't Charlie come to help them rig the table up as an angel tracker?  That's when they discovered Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, so maybe they got side-tracked and never actually completed making the table into the tracking device they had hoped for.

  • Love 4
Link to comment

I guess I am to the point that it doesn't take a lot to make me excited. Dean wasn't useless tonight. First episode I have enjoyed since Regarding Dean. Yeah, it had problems (Sam can you fix the Colt among others) but Dean wasn't totally useless. Yeah!!!

  • Love 2
Link to comment
21 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

At least Dean had a moment to shoot the ring out of the witch's hand but hey guys, did you really just leave Max when you should have insisted because you know people are going to do stupid things?

    ^^^ THIS. Guys, you know better -- you've both lived through this multiple times, and you know exactly the stupid decisions that you made every time you were in that position. You leave him alone to grieve for minutes at a time, maybe an hour -- you do not drive away and leave town!

  • Love 5
Link to comment
43 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

ETA: Also, Dabb dragged out his crappy Insta-Shifter bullshit from Bloodlines.

Riiiight??? I was honestly confused at that. I was like "Wtf where did they get a Leviathan???"

  • Love 1
Link to comment
8 minutes ago, ZennyKenny said:

Riiiight??? I was honestly confused at that. I was like "Wtf where did they get a Leviathan???"

If it was a Leviathan this whole stupid BMOL plotline would have become 1000%  more interesting to me. I would be down for Dick rising again. (#sorrynotsorry)

On a shallow note, Dean's arms and shoulders in that opening scene. His shirt fit so well. Thank you, universe for that gift. 

  • Love 3
Link to comment

Upon rewatch, give me a fucking break with Dean holding the wine glass that way.  We saw Dean drink wine at Jody's house and properly hold a wine glass. If that was a stupid comic choice by Jensen, bad choice my man.  That was ridiculous.

This felt a little like a backdoor pilot with Max being set up for a long storyline now. I dunno. Maybe something with Rowena?  Maybe he'll come back next season. I dunno, peculiar.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
1 minute ago, catrox14 said:

Upon rewatch, give me a fucking break with Dean holding the wine glass that way.  We saw Dean drink wine at Jody's house and properly hold a wine glass. If that was a stupid comic choice by Jensen, bad choice my man.  That was ridiculous.

HOw did he hold it?  I figure any way that you hold a glass tht doesn't end up with the contents spilled all over you is the right way.

  • Love 6
Link to comment
53 minutes ago, MysteryGuest said:

Didn't Charlie come to help them rig the table up as an angel tracker?  That's when they discovered Dorothy and the Wicked Witch, so maybe they got side-tracked and never actually completed making the table into the tracking device they had hoped for.

Oh, could have been. I thought I remembered it working because it was a threat that could expose Gabriel being in Sam.

Link to comment
Just now, Katy M said:

HOw did he hold it?  I figure any way that you hold a glass tht doesn't end up with the contents spilled all over you is the right way.

I can't even describe it. Had his hand wrapped around the stem like he was holding a bat or something. It was just dumb IMO. 

But then later when he's talking to not!Tasha he's holding it normally.

Link to comment
22 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

If it was a Leviathan this whole stupid BMOL plotline would have become 1000%  more interesting to me. I would be down for Dick rising again. (#sorrynotsorry)

Ha! Yeah I mean I know they said "cut off the head and the body will flounder" or whatever, but... there were Leviathan in Purgatory after-the-fact, so theoretically they could escape again.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Just now, ZennyKenny said:

Ha! Yeah I mean I know they said "cut off the head and the body will flounder" or whatever, but... there were Leviathan in Purgatory after-the-fact, so theoretically they could escape again.

Oh...yes and maybe Benny could have gotten out again, too. I miss Benny

  • Love 5
Link to comment

Uugh. What was the point of ruining the story by making Max an idiot who would sell his soul for a carbon copy of his dead sister? Can this show just not resist ruining or killing every decent character? 

  • Love 9
Link to comment
(edited)
41 minutes ago, Ria said:

Can this show just not resist ruining or killing every decent character? 

Not really... it's kinda their thing. I think that they honestly think that it's good writing or something.

Edited by ZennyKenny
  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)
48 minutes ago, Ria said:

who would sell his soul for a carbon copy of his dead sister?

Isn't the witch already in hell and fulfilling her own deal, since she died before Max created doll!Alicia?

Edited by rue721
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Wow, the Barnes family is actually in worse shape the The Winchesters. Only Max left and he's criminally insane.  

I think we'll see him in S13. 

Busy right now but hope to give the episode it's  full attention it deserves later. 

Quick thoight:

good characterizations

rapproachment w/Mary is making headway

was a bit distracted by the reuse of an actor for a key character  

love the Winsynch

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...