S14.E15: Peace of Mind

[Res]

6 hours ago, PAForrest said:

Yeah, they don't normally find fault with the show ever, especially where it concerns Dean. So that is both surprising and really not as Bergamot so eloquently explained it:

Lemuria said very much the same thing in one of the other threads, BvJ, I think. Bottom line, tv is a visual medium, and if you don't see it happening on screen - or if at the very least no one on screen references something or someone - then it didn't happen, or it's not happening. I very much thought, hey, if I was a newbie who happened to be flipping the channel and tuned into this episode, I would have come away assuming something bad happened the episode before that must have only had something to do with the characters of Sam and Jack, maybe Cas, and some chick named Rowena who isn't appearing in this episode for whatever reason. And that Dean guy wasn't even there and must only show up occasionally as comic relief.

Dean spending an episode - or at this point the rest of the season - in the Ma'lak Box would frankly have been pure brilliance by comparison, if for no other reason than it would have followed canon of only four freaking episodes before, and wouldn't have crapped all over not just Dean, but Billie as a character and her wonderful scene in Nihilism. I'm left not only baffled that Michael did nothing to Dean, but questioning whether Billie is a lying liar who lies, or who is simply the most moronic reaper in existence who clearly has no idea what the hell she's talking about. How did a reaper so stupid get the gig as Death? Is the cosmic bar really that low?

Short of shoving Dean in the Ma'lak Box, Dean should have spent this episode being pissed off - at Sam, at Cas, and even if not especially at Billie for telling him he had no options when obviously all he had to do was a whole lot of nothing and walk away fine and dandy to spend the rest of his days scarfing lunch meat.

Responding in Spoiler Spec thread to be safe

[Res]

8 minutes ago, SueB said:

yes, tonights episode 14.16 was shot before 14.15

I was thinking it was the other way around but that might have something to do with Jensen's portrayal. I know he has stated that he doesn't like to read too far ahead because he's worried it might affect his acting in current episodes if he knows what's going to happen. 

[BabySpinach]

I haven't seen either this episode or the new one because I want Jack to die in a fire right now, but I just want to mention that Dabb's idea of "powerful" is incredibly shallow. Interestingly enough, it's exactly what Sam thought power was in season 4: pure, raw strength without thought of wisdom, judgement, or restraint. 

Jack is not the most powerful being in the universe. The fact that he could get outwitted by a potato immediately disqualifies him from that status. He's so far done pretty much nothing to influence the larger world in a tangible way; he's only thrown raw strength at any problem that happened to be in front of him and created temporary solutions at best. He has no core motivation, no bigger guiding principle that would drive him to make strategic and effective use of his abilities.

Dean has done far more for the SPNVerse with far less ("just" his will, his morality, his compassion, his irreverence), and often with permanent results that didn't come with an equally terrible price. He's never recklessly waved around what powers he's gained over the years like an idiot toddler enamored with shiny things, and has always respected them as the burdens of responsibility they actually are. Similarly, he regards the reminders of his cosmic importance with weight and resignation rather than naive self-satisfaction. Now Dean, I would absolutely buy and respect as the most powerful being in the universe.

As for Jack, his resulting soullessness might prove a bigger problem than Michael even would have. That would actually align with the show's old pattern of showing that reckless strength without wisdom never turns out well, despite the short-term victories it may grant. This is one of the few routes that would actually make narrative sense: Jack turns bad and forces Dean to do something that ends up with the latter in the box, housing the archangel power that is now too dangerous for Jack to have access to. As a bonus, Jack then withers away like the empty husk he's always been.

Edited March 22, 2019 by BabySpinach

[ILoveReading]

18 minutes ago, BabySpinach said:

Dean has done far more for the SPNVerse with far less ("just" his will, his morality, his compassion, his irreverence), and often with permanent results that didn't come with an equally terrible price. He's never recklessly waved around what powers he's gained over the years like an idiot toddler enamored with shiny things, and has always respected them as the burdens of responsibility they actually are. Similarly, he regards the reminders of his cosmic importance with weight and resignation rather than self-satisfaction. Now Dean, I would absolutely buy and respect as the most powerful being in the universe.

Love this.   Thank you for making me smile.

[MysteryGuest]

I finally got around to watching this episode.  I hadn't watched this one or the most recent one until tonight.  I didn't mind this episode, though it felt more like filler to me, and with a 20 episode season, I wish we'd get more substance.  But I like Jack, and Donatello, and really didn't mind their scenes together.  There's definitely been a lot of focus on Jack this season, so who knows how that's going to end up.  But they are going to have give him something to do now that he has his powers back.  

Did they ever really explain just what kind of monster they were dealing with?  Obviously, his daughter had the same abilities, but what were they?  

Anyway, I found it to be a harmless episode, for the most part.  Nothing terribly offensive or memorable.  It won't be one I seek out in the future.

[OrigamiNightmare]

On 3/15/2019 at 5:44 PM, juppschmitz said:

Well, I suppose this is what happens when new writers get told to watch the early seasons while doing the cleaning.

Absolutely, Ugh that quote made me SO mad!

[The Companion]

 

On 3/15/2019 at 3:35 AM, Cambion said:

Just some quick thoughts...

I liked the town overall, but it did have a couple of facepalm moments for me:  like the streets being full of modern cars.  At first I wondered if it was going to be one of those historical village type things because of the name, Charming something and that it was a tourist attraction of some kind, or a riff on The Truman Show.  And there was the owner of the boarding house using a walkman type gadget with earbuds and a couple of other things I'm too tired to think of right now.   It was almost like they were trying to make this the best of all worlds, with mostly 50s sensibilities and morals but with a few cherry-picked things from the future people don't want to be without.  So, I was going one direction when the story was going another.  Which was kinda of a nice surprise to not have figured it all out right away these last couple of episodes.

 

I noticed the glaring anachronisms and they signaled to me that someone was cultivating this town. I really enjoyed the town and the mystery. I definitely blamed the milkshakes. 😆

I expected someone was behind it in some mind control way when people knew about them impossibly quickly, but I was actually surprised by the bad guy which is rare.

I have to say, I rarely find myself on the total opposite side of a reaction from the rest of the forum, but I really really enjoyed this one. 

On the town side of the story, I liked the mystery and the Stepford creepiness. I thought it was a great MOTW story. I loved the resolution being somewhat humane and the fact that they left a benevolent monster alone. I enjoyed Cas and Sam together. We don't get that often. I didn't even mind the running away stuff because I think it was fairly relatable, not fully in Sam's control and ultimately counteracted by Sam's desire to return to his life. 

On a shallow note, I am definitely more of a cardigan and glasses girl, and Pleasantville Sam was fairly enjoyable for me, three olive martinis and all. 😆

Now for the more controversial Dean stuff. I am honestly floored because I thought he was acting lighter and sort of silly because he wasn't fighting Michael in his own head. I was sitting there thinking how fun it was to see him enjoy a sandwich. I mean, yeah, he has also been through a lot but his headspace has to be so much better. Michael isn't beating down the door and he isn't facing an box for all of eternity. I didn't feel like he was dumbed down as much as the times that have really stuck out to me (the college campus being the one off the top of my head where he acted like he had never seen women or food before). 

I actually enjoyed that he brought Jack to Donatello. It made a lot of sense. I liked the discussion, coffee close-up notwithstanding. 

I think most of all I don't feel cheated out of the emotional fallout because I hate the main storyline and would be happy to just see them "he's in the wind" the entire fucking thing. They would just fuck up the complex emotional stuff anyway. So maybe that is part  of it too. To that end, I don't disagree that dropping the Jack/soul issue would have made me even happier, but I enjoyed this one which is more than I can say for most of the season 

 

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, The Companion said:

I noticed the glaring anachronisms and they signaled to me that someone was cultivating this town. I really enjoyed the town and the mystery. I definitely blamed the milkshakes.

Yeah, it probably would have been hard to get everybody in town new old cars.  Milk shakes are never to blame.  Milk shakes are life.

[Myrelle]

1 hour ago, The Companion said:

 

I noticed the glaring anachronisms and they signaled to me that someone was cultivating this town. I really enjoyed the town and the mystery. I definitely blamed the milkshakes. 😆

I expected someone was behind it in some mind control way when people knew about them impossibly quickly, but I was actually surprised by the bad guy which is rare.

I have to say, I rarely find myself on the total opposite side of a reaction from the rest of the forum, but I really really enjoyed this one. 

On the town side of the story, I liked the mystery and the Stepford creepiness. I thought it was a great MOTW story. I loved the resolution being somewhat humane and the fact that they left a benevolent monster alone. I enjoyed Cas and Sam together. We don't get that often. I didn't even mind the running away stuff because I think it was fairly relatable, not fully in Sam's control and ultimately counteracted by Sam's desire to return to his life. 

On a shallow note, I am definitely more of a cardigan and glasses girl, and Pleasantville Sam was fairly enjoyable for me, three olive martinis and all. 😆

Now for the more controversial Dean stuff. I am honestly floored because I thought he was acting lighter and sort of silly because he wasn't fighting Michael in his own head. I was sitting there thinking how fun it was to see him enjoy a sandwich. I mean, yeah, he has also been through a lot but his headspace has to be so much better. Michael isn't beating down the door and he isn't facing an box for all of eternity. I didn't feel like he was dumbed down as much as the times that have really stuck out to me (the college campus being the one off the top of my head where he acted like he had never seen women or food before). 

I actually enjoyed that he brought Jack to Donatello. It made a lot of sense. I liked the discussion, coffee close-up notwithstanding. 

I think most of all I don't feel cheated out of the emotional fallout because I hate the main storyline and would be happy to just see them "he's in the wind" the entire fucking thing. They would just fuck up the complex emotional stuff anyway. So maybe that is part  of it too. To that end, I don't disagree that dropping the Jack/soul issue would have made me even happier, but I enjoyed this one which is more than I can say for most of the season 

 

I have to admit that, for the absolute life of me, I truly cannot remember any of this, nor anything before/after it. 

And I'm grateful for that, tbh. 🤷‍♀️

 

[The Companion]

20 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Yeah, it probably would have been hard to get everybody in town new old cars.  Milk shakes are never to blame.  Milk shakes are life.

An excellent point. I will never question them again. 

1 minute ago, Myrelle said:

I have to admit that, for the absolute life of me, I truly cannot remember any of this, nor anything before/after it. 

And I'm grateful for that, tbh. 🤷‍♀️

 

Not much from this season is worth revisiting

[Casseiopeia]

18 hours ago, The Companion said:

I have to say, I rarely find myself on the total opposite side of a reaction from the rest of the forum, but I really really enjoyed this one. 

Agreed.  One of the very few from the last 4 seasons I really laughed at. But I thought Pleasantville was a great movie so I loved the shout out.

[S Cook Productions]

1 hour ago, Casseiopeia said:

Agreed.  One of the very few from the last 4 seasons I really laughed at. But I thought Pleasantville was a great movie so I loved the shout out.

This could very well be my fave ep from last season.... :)

[The Companion]

4 hours ago, Casseiopeia said:

Agreed.  One of the very few from the last 4 seasons I really laughed at. But I thought Pleasantville was a great movie so I loved the shout out.

 

2 hours ago, S Cook Productions said:

This could very well be my fave ep from last season.... 🙂

Glad I am not alone. Less glad that I don't have much to look forward to in the remainder of the season. 😂