S09.E01: I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here

[bettername2come]

"Who Do You Love?" playing over the Road So Far was good and oddly fitting. The montage of all the angels getting up when they hear Dean Winchesters call was nice. Would've been greatly amused if the farmer angel had just pulled up to the hospital on that tractor. I think Sam seeing Dean say "I'm working on it" probably indicated that he knew Dean would be trying to save him from the outside. Bobby and Dean fussing at each other is pretty funny. "I'm gonna finish this call. Then I'm gonna stab you." They really do a good job casting people to say the randomest lines of dialogue. What is it with this show and the Grand Canyon? What kind of angel whacks someone over the head with a 2x4? Hallway exploding glass looked cool. Death! Always happy to see him. Human Castiel's pretty tough. "There ain't no me if there ain't no you." Winchester co-dependence at its finest. Although I guess that didn't come from Dean. Posing as Sam's brother is not proper consent!

Ah, season 9. I should've bought wine. 

[Katy M]

10 hours ago, bettername2come said:

"I'm gonna finish this call. Then I'm gonna stab you."

Well, it's rude to stab people in the middle of a call.  Apparently he changed his mind, since Cas ended the epi without a knife in him.  I was more impressed that Cas was able to find a pay phone.  What happened to his cell phone?  He probably had one when he went up to heaven.  Metatron laid him gently on the ground.  Did it break when he almost got hit by the truck, or did they just forget about it.  On a separate note, I'm always amazed that when these guys have to use these pay phones that are way more abundant in SPN verse than in real life, that they actually know each other's phone numbers.  I can't remember any phone numbers any more since you never have to actually dial them.

[DittyDotDot]

15 minutes ago, Katy M said:

On a separate note, I'm always amazed that when these guys have to use these pay phones that are way more abundant in SPN verse than in real life, that they actually know each other's phone numbers.  I can't remember any phone numbers any more since you never have to actually dial them.

That's always my thought too! I can't even remember my own phone number most the time anymore. ;)

[Hanahope]

Well it wouldn't be Supernatural if Dean or Sam weren't keeping a secret from each other.  Dean did what he thought was best, and I get that, but he should have told Sam.  He should know secrets only cause problems. 

Cas being human should be interesting.  And I love Dean having Crowley in the trunk.

[Katy M]

17 hours ago, Hanahope said:

And I love Dean having Crowley in the trunk.

"I have the king of Hell in my trunk."  "Is that a metaphor?"

[Wayward Son]

I really enjoyed all the Castiel stuff in this episode. I thought Carver did a good job of conveying Castiel’s feelings of confusion and loss along with a genuine desire to make the best of what has happened and help the other angels to adjust. I also like that he (tried to) listen to Dean’s advice and was willing to walk away from the shady angels.

 

I can’t say much about the Sam and Dean of it all without getting into bitch vs Jerk territory. So all I’ll say is this episode was the moment I started to hate Dean Winchester and not particularly care if the show ends with his permanent death. 

 

P.S. Aren’t these threads supposed to be completely spoiler free for the sake of first timers? 

 

Spoiler

The Moniker “Angel who calls himself Ezekiel” is way too suggestive and spoilery IMO

[Hanahope]

On 10/26/2017 at 4:57 AM, Wayward Son said:

P.S. Aren’t these threads supposed to be completely spoiler free for the sake of first timers? 

Well, I'm a first timer, but I also know that this show has been out for many years and I can't blame anyone or anything for "being spoiled" about future events.  Heck even knowing how many years there are one is already spoiled to the extent that in some way, Sam and Dean end up suriviving into 13 seasons.  Course, spoilers never bothered me or ruined my enjoyment of the story.

[DittyDotDot]

On 10/26/2017 at 3:57 AM, Wayward Son said:

P.S. Aren’t these threads supposed to be completely spoiler free for the sake of first timers? 

Generally, yes, but you have to remember that some of these threads were started before that became the general rule. I believe most the threads were started when rewatching during the hiatus between S9 and S10 and this forum was a sort of experimental zone for the past seasons sub-forum. Basically, a lot of things have changed since then and as @Hanahope points out, this show has been on a very long time so it would be very hard to stay completely spoiler free at this point. I think there's a certain amount of knowing you could be spoiled anytime you enter a discussion forum this late into a show's run. 

On 10/26/2017 at 3:57 AM, Wayward Son said:

I really enjoyed all the Castiel stuff in this episode. I thought Carver did a good job of conveying Castiel’s feelings of confusion and loss along with a genuine desire to make the best of what has happened and help the other angels to adjust. I also like that he (tried to) listen to Dean’s advice and was willing to walk away from the shady angels.

They so had me with Cass's human journey! 

[Iju]

i just want to say two things.

one, i have to suffer with more sicky sam :( :(

two, sam's hair looked so goofy when he and dean walked away from the hospital. i had to hold on my laugh.

----

jk. actually, i think the writing is better this season, but the writers are making problems out of nothing. i don't see much reason for sam to reject the angel since he had already chose to live with dean. even if he was to keep it a secret, it shouldn't be one for long.

On 8/5/2016 at 3:46 PM, DittyDotDot said:

Oh, but I like Crowley for the first half of the season again, I won't tell you why, but could be something to look forward to? ;)

omggg i am so READY for this season then! HYPE

[The Companion]

So there are a lot of comments in this thread that seem to discuss the upcoming arc and because I don't want to be spoiled, I skimmed. I may come back later because there is a lot of interesting stuff here, it just seems risky to read it carefully. 

So my fairly independent reaction is that I really liked this one. It benefits from comparison to the S8 premiere, which I found painful.

The let's spend time in someone's head and consider death plot has been covered, so it didn't feel particularly new, but I did like watching Sam try to reason his way through it all. I think the choice of Bobby as the "let go" advocate is odd because I do think actual Bobby from the coma, near vengeful spirit and former resident of hell MIGHT actually have that perspective but I don't think Sam had the knowledge to realize that. I do think Sam's DeanVoice was a more logical choice.  It is hard to really get some of Sam's perspective because of the wonky writing last season. Sam expressed (poorly) some guilt over everything last season and he expressly doesn't want anyone else getting hurt. Looking to his prior resurrections, I think that is a reasonable place to go for him. I also think it can be inferred that he knew that no medical intervention was available, so fighting likely meant something he wouldn't like. So, the decision not to fight didn't actually bother me as much as it could have. I see the decision not to fight here as a cost benefit analysis. He shuts off the part of him that says: of course we have to do everything to survive and asks himself if he really really means that. In real life, people make decisions daily to discontinue treatment because the cost is not worth the benefit. I have worked with some of these people and I saw a similar process here. Sometimes, when medical intervention isn't going to be enough to cure, the focus shifts to comfort and to ensuring your family will be protected. Maybe I am projecting, but that was the story I saw. He knew he was dying. He heard that they were calling the angels meteors. His HeadDean knew he was dying. I assume he was absorbing enough information to know there was no chance.

Onto Dean doing whatever he could to save his brother. I am irritated that we are back to one brother lying "to protect" the other. Frankly, if he is not sure Sam will keep the angel, he already knows if Sam would be okay with the decision. Back to the legal side of death and dying, we often designate someone to make healthcare decisions for us but only if we can't answer. Obviously, that was not honored here. That being said, I can be upset with Dean for making this decision and still find it relatable. Not wanting to lose his brother. Not being able to let go.

I did find the pseudoconsent consistent with Jimmy and Castiel. Jimmy "consented" under duress, given the choice of agreeing or dying and letting Cas take his son.

Speaking of Castiel, i am actually pretty intrigued by his storyline. I enjoyed all of those scenes (shallow alert, especially Castiel takes all his clothes off 😆). 

One final comment: I am constantly surprised with how well Jared handles the challenge of different characters. JA gets a lot of appreciation for his range, with good reason. He is fantastic. But I think JP is also incredibly talented and it is particularly apparent when he plays someone else in this show (e.g., Ezekiel, Lucifer, etc.)

[Katy M]

4 minutes ago, The Companion said:

I did find the pseudoconsent consistent with Jimmy and Castiel. Jimmy "consented" under duress, given the choice of agreeing or dying and letting Cas take his son.

He did say yes on his own in the first place.  I don't think people really know what they're getting into when they let an angel in.  Plus, they think angels are the good guys.  

[The Companion]

2 minutes ago, Katy M said:

He did say yes on his own in the first place.  I don't think people really know what they're getting into when they let an angel in.  Plus, they think angels are the good guys.  

Yes and agree. The host must consent, but it doesn't need to be informed consent. 

ETA: which is problematic itself.

 

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by The Companion
Sorry, hit submit prematurely 

[Katy M]

3 minutes ago, The Companion said:

ETA: which is problematic itself.

Yeah, that was kind of my point:)

[The Companion]

4 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Yeah, that was kind of my point:)

Sorry, i was agreeing and then pushed submit early and the post got a little confusing. Can I blame it on a Season 8 hangover? 😆

[FlickChick]

2 hours ago, The Companion said:

But I think JP is also incredibly talented and it is particularly apparent when he plays someone else in this show (e.g., Ezekiel, Lucifer, etc.)

You may not agree here, but for me, the fact that Jared plays someone other than "Sam" better, is a problem. Since "Sam" is the main character that he plays, he should put the most effort with all the nuances possible into that role. And personally, I don't think he does. IMO, Jared loves to play characters other than "Sam", and puts his efforts there. And it shows.

[The Companion]

5 minutes ago, FlickChick said:

You may not agree here, but for me, the fact that Jared plays someone other than "Sam" better, is a problem. Since "Sam" is the main character that he plays, he should put the most effort with all the nuances possible into that role. And personally, I don't think he does. IMO, Jared loves to play characters other than "Sam", and puts his efforts there. And it shows.

Personally, I think what he does with Sam is more subtle and it gets hard to notice because that is what the viewer gets used to. Personally, I like his reaction shots a lot as Sam, but I get that mileage is always going to vary on something this subjective.

[gonzosgirrl]

On 12/30/2019 at 5:51 PM, FlickChick said:

You may not agree here, but for me, the fact that Jared plays someone other than "Sam" better, is a problem. Since "Sam" is the main character that he plays, he should put the most effort with all the nuances possible into that role. And personally, I don't think he does. IMO, Jared loves to play characters other than "Sam", and puts his efforts there. And it shows.

It always makes me say "huh?" when actors are lauded for playing different roles well. It's kinda their one job - like, Being an Actor 101. I find it much more interesting when they can show me all the nuances of one character and still make them endlessly fascinating. Sam has had the same limited set of expressions for seasons now (dour, impatient, annoyed, constipated) so it makes sense that it would be notable when Jared is playing a different character.

[The Companion]

10 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

It always makes me say "huh?" when actors are lauded for playing different roles well. It's kinda their one job - like, Being an Actor 101. I find it much more interesting when they can show me all the nuances of one character and still make them endlessly fascinating. Sam has had the same limited set of expressions for seasons now (dour, impatient, annoyed, constipated) so it makes sense that it would be notable when Jared is playing a different character.

It is their job, but not every actor can successfully pull off two characters at the same time. It is hard to be in the minds of two separate characters, especially if you tend towards method acting (no clue if either of these guys do). If it doesn't work, it can be cringeworthy. I think JA and JP have both successfully done it in this show and I really enjoy watching it. 

[S Cook Productions]

39 minutes ago, The Companion said:

It is their job, but not every actor can successfully pull off two characters at the same time. It is hard to be in the minds of two separate characters, especially if you tend towards method acting (no clue if either of these guys do). If it doesn't work, it can be cringeworthy. I think JA and JP have both successfully done it in this show and I really enjoy watching it. 

I agree. I also like when MC plays other characters too because they are always so different than Castiel.