S14.E16: Don't Go in the Woods

[raven]

Quote

Sam and Dean are baffled when they come up against a monster they have never heard of before; Jack does his best to impress a new group of friends.

Airdate 2019.03.21

[Katy M]

This was pretty boring.  The monster was kind of cool, I guess.  Also kind of WEndigoish. Yes, it looked different. And silver to the heart instead of fire, but basically the same origin story and victim pool. 

Sam was on an honesty kick?  I guess.  I'm sure that won't last.

There's no way those kids aren't going to tell Dean what happened.  Is there?  Next time they see him?

Have I mentioned I don't care about Jack.  Because I don't.  I did think it was kind of funny that he thinks it's OK to use fake ID to impersonate government officials, but not buy beer.  I also thought it was kind of funny that a girl who's not old enough to sell beer (I guess she could be 18, but if it's her 2nd semester senior year, she's taking her SAT's awfully late), is concerned about getting ID.

And, while I was bored with the whole Jack storyline, I liked that he was acting his age.  That is exactly what a 2 year old with powers and new friends would do.  But, still, blech.

[ILoveReading]

Moving to bitch vs jerk to be safe.

Edited March 22, 2019 by ILoveReading

[HollyG]

Love the Ghostfacers connection!

Edited March 22, 2019 by HollyG

[Myrelle]

Another one for the refuse pile.

The hunt wasn't awful, but the brother stuff at the end was. Sam lecturing and schooling Dean(again and some more) on telling Jack the truth this time. I wanted to barf.

Same with the NougatSue and his "friends" stuff. Oh me, Oh my the NougatBaby is going beige. The teen actors were terrible. 

All so predictable and boring.

This season feels interminable at this point.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Myrelle
revision

[ILoveReading]

Did Sam tell his flunkies about Dean housing Michael in his head and that he could bust out any second?  Because if he didn't he took away their choice.

I feel no sympathy for Sam here.

[trudysmom]

I mostly enjoyed this episode. Aside from Sam's holier-than-thou side eyes at Dean for lying to Jack, and again in the car, it felt pretty balanced.  I like the idea of a new monster,  the guilty teenage boy was convincing.  I can take or leave Jack and his band of buddies who are now scared shitless of him, but as filler, there has been worse.  Cas needed to stretch his legs?  Really?   Since when?  Again, they've done worse, so I give it a pass.  

Edited March 22, 2019 by trudysmom
Leaving out words is fairly dumb.

[Whodunnit]

Cohutta, Georgia.

[gonzosgirrl]

No.

[Whodunnit]

The show stated that the Cohutta was also called the whistler, when I looked it up online, I found that there was mention of a Georgian Wendigo?

[Jediknight]

There's a knife flying around in front of me, I could walk backwards and away from it, but I'll walk towards it.  There's no way something bad will happen, like getting stabbed.

[ZennyKenny]

Whoa, I LOVED.... half of this episode! Can you guess which half?

- a good old-fashioned monster hunt that reminded me of the Wendigo episode! Love it!

- When Sam & Dean grabbed the Sheriff's rifle and turned the tables after being held up, I almost cheered! Yes!! Competent Winchesters working together!!! 

- "So they just let some flesh-eating beast loose?" THANK YOU DEAN, I said almost the exact same thing about 3 seconds before he did.

- I'm glad the Sheriff brought up telling people about monsters. I'm also glad that Sam & Dean see eye-to-eye on the answer. 

- side note: I unapologetically enjoy anything Ghostfacers-related don't @ me

On the other hand...

- "Bambi's" (at least they acknowledged it) behavior might be the cringiest shit I have ever seen on this show. And that includes anything else he's done AND "Bloodlines"!

- the writers should not have Jack interact with the teenagers again, because it was painfully obvious that all 3 were better actors.

- When Jack was swinging the angel blade around, I asked my wife "which one's he gonna stab?" about 30 seconds before it happened.

- JACK: "I don't like lying. It literally makes me feel nauseous. I can't even use a fake i.d. to buy beer. So yeah, no lying for me. WELLLLLLLLL unless it's to Sam and Dean."

- side note: is SPN intentionally parodying bad teen slasher flicks with everyone falling for no reason when they run, or is that just really, really, REALLY bad writing?

- same question concerning the teenagers making out in the car and hearing the strange noise

[SueB]

Black dude is monster chum trope.  *sigh*. I know, casting is different than writing.  

“I’m 2!“ If only he’d held up two fingers.  But seriously, walking toddler with ginormous powers who is simultaneously 2/teen/soul-light.  This is not going to end well.  I like that he took a chance to get to know others.  But he used his powers to impress.  Not good.  

I got a Greg Brady vibe when he was lying to Sam & Dean at the end.  He was telling a half-truth, just enough to get out of the conversation but not the important part. This didn’t end well for Greg either. 

The MOTW was gross but interesting.  I like the wounds left behind.  Sufficiently weird.  Plus her eyes were foggy — that’s new.  

Adam Beach as the sheriff was good.  And I liked his realistic question - why don’t you tell!?  And the boys are on the same sheet — nope, just nope.  

[Wynne88]

I give them kudos for actually coming up with a scary episode.  I've been in those bathrooms where you're basically afraid to even open the stall doors, so maybe that fed into my perception.

I enjoyed the fact that this was a Sam and Dean hunt, and they both had moments where they shone.  I agree that Sam was a little holier than thou about the lying, but I liked the fact that Dean actually listened to him.  

As far as Jack goes, he has no judgement (which a 2 year old wouldn't).  Unfortunately, no judgement and great power is a really bad combination.  It was easy to see how much he wanted to impress his new friends, without realizing how much he was scaring them.  I wonder if Dean will hear anything about the incident on his beer run.

[tennisgurl]

I really want to watch the original Wendigo episode now. God I miss season one.

[rue721]

Well, I can tell the bunker is not anywhere near the South, because if it were, once Jack was healing people with his bare hands, at least one of those teens would have been praying and trying to get him to come to their church youth group. Dude is either possessed or the messiah, so either way, it works, right? hahaha

[Pondlass1]

Evil Jack is the theme for next season?  Hope he gets a better deal than Dean Michael. Hope he kills all teenagers.

(I don’t live in the States, is wandering about in creepy dark woods and visiting desolate smelly toilets at dead of night a regular thing?)

[tessathereaper]

1 hour ago, ILoveReading said:

Did Sam tell his flunkies about Dean housing Michael in his head and that he could bust out any second?  Because if he didn't he took away their choice.

I feel no sympathy for Sam here.

I know right?  Well he does that, he did it to Jessica, he did it to Amelia(luckily she didn't die because of it).  Lying and dishonesty is only OK when Sam decides it's right to do.  He lied about the Book of the Dead and everything they were doing, he lied about working with the BMOL, etc, etc.  It's A-OK when he does it and it's only stupid Dean he's doing it to. 

That's not so long ago in the past. And given it's happened repeatedly over the years so it's enough of pattern that I don't see any reason to believe he's changed, Sam doesn't really have a leg to stand when he gets into these smug moods where he gives lectures to Dean about honesty and makes faulty comparisons(like comparing with Dad).

And since when is Dean afraid of corpses?  It's ridiculous.  Dean has never been particularly jumpy when not under the influence of some sort of supernatural thing that made him so, there is no excuse for any of this.(And no I don't think Michael is still sticking around somewhere at least not with Dean)

[ILoveReading]

17 minutes ago, Wynne88 said:

ut I liked the fact that Dean actually listened to him.

Dean actually listening to Sam is the reason they're n this mess. 

I'm beginning to think its not so much the hunters Sam feels bad about but the fact that he has no one to order around anymore so he's doing it to Dean.

I'd really like to see Dean stand up to Sam and call him out on this holier than thou attitude.

Edited March 22, 2019 by ILoveReading

[tessathereaper]

Just now, ILoveReading said:

Dean actually listening to Sam is the reason they're n this mess. 

I'm beggging to think its not so much the hunters Sam feels bad about but the fact that he has no one to order around anymore so he's doing it to Dean.

I'd really like to see Dean stand up to Sam and call him out on this holier than thou attitude.

Same, seems like whenever Dean listens to Sam, things get worse.  Sam so deserves to get called out on his attitude.  Dean doesn't deserve that treatment, least of all from Sam.  

[Bergamot]

I honestly could not tell which of the two stories in the episode was supposed to be the "A" story and which was supposed to be the "B" one, because they were both "B" stories. And both so unoriginal, so contrived, and so very boring.

So Jack stupidly tried to impress his new friends, made a mistake, and then lied about it to Dean and Sam because he didn't want to get in trouble. What has any of that got to do with being soulless? Sounds like something perfectly ordinary and fully-souled teenagers do every day. Obviously the writers cooked up the idea that Jack losing his human half by burning off his soul, and thus being just an angel, might make him EVIL (no matter how little sense that makes), just so that they could have it both ways, and make Jack do "bad" things without it being his fault in any way. But then this is the best story they can come up with to depict someone who is missing his soul? So lame.

The other "B" plot, the one with Dean and Sam, was also pretty feeble and lacking in originality. Personally I couldn't care less about the little tiff between Dean and Sam over whether to tell Jack the truth about why they didn't want him to go on the hunt with them. It was especially pointless considering that Jack already knows they are worried about how the loss of his soul might affect him. Just some contrived and artificial business that was obviously inserted in an attempt to add dramatic tension to an uninteresting story, and in the end it meant absolutely nothing. At the end of this episode, the situation stands just where it did at the end of last week's episode.

And of course, Sam gets to trot out again his angst about the death of the late and unlamented AU hunters. Whereas Dean may as well have parachuted into the season for the very first time in the previous episode, considering how completely and totally forgotten his story is. It is quite an accomplishment, I guess, to make Dean into as much of a cardboard character as the rest of the people on this show. Thank goodness we got rid of that distraction, so that everyone can concentrate on nothing but Jack! Too bad that the writing for Jack is so uninteresting.

1 hour ago, Pondlass1 said:

(I don’t live in the States, is wandering about in creepy dark woods and visiting desolate smelly toilets at dead of night a regular thing?)

I thought that the MOTW story was simplistic, dull, and derivative, but that deserted and filthy bathroom was truly terrifying -- scariest thing in the episode! Ha! I loved that set design -- they did a great job on it. (I can't believe though that the girl actually sat down to use one of those toilets!)

Edited March 22, 2019 by Bergamot

[catrox14]

Shut your mouth, Sam. I think he has annoyed more this season than in s4 And  that is because Jared is not bringing any nuance to Sam.

Has he forgotten how to act? I'm not being snarky or mean to be funny. I int enjoy his performances at all this season. Its one note with bitchy face, huffing and exasporation and thats it. I don't understand.

I'm not even gonna bother with Dean here because he's Pod!Dean at this point.

[Casseiopeia]

Well this episode looked like it had been written by a first time writer, directed by a first time director and edited by an assistant editor.  Very amateurish effort by all.  Can't blame the cast.  They did the best they could with what they had to work with.  It was all just awkward. 

[Cambion]

-loved that it was finally just the boys on the hunt alone, and for the most part they were working like normal.  okay, monster wasn't hugely original, but at least it was a hunt, with an actual monster and not more recycled crap about angels and Lucifer

-creepy monster, nice effects when it was killed, the bathroom scene was scarylicious.  This one and Oroborus somebody is trying to get back to the horror part of the show, which I like.

-lying to Jack was dumb, but I see why Dean did it -- because then he didn't have to listen to Jack argue/plead/whine about not going.  Sam was over the top sanctimonious about it, but I did not miss the "this ain't over" look Dean gave the back of Sam's head in the car.  (We'll probably never see that but a fan can dream, right?)

-loved seeing Adam Beach, he's a favorite of mine from way back.  Loved that Dean gave the sheriff the kill.  That really showed how Dean gets other people and what they need right away.

-wasn't very happy with the toddler with a loaded gun scenario, but I knew they would go there.  And then Mr. Can't Live Without My Powers Because I'm So Useless stands there like a dumbass after he stabs the girl before finally realizing he could heal her.  

-the townie kids didn't bother me, but for some reason they made Alex's acting seem a 1000% stiffer than it usually is.  I didn't like how "innocent" he's been trying to play Jack all along, but this really went over the top.  I mean, can you say 'supercilious'?  I knew you could. Can we please kill him off yet?  I mean, I never thought I'd say that, but geez.

All in all I was pretty satisfied with the hunt part.  Jack needs to go back to heaven and never be heard from again, like now, But at least the parts about him didn't seem interminable this week. Didn't miss Cas at all (never been a huge fan though I have to admit that's more about the actor than the character I'm sorry to say), when he's around he and Sam just egg each other on.  Cas:  "I wanna pick on Dean."   Sam:  "hold my beer."  And another thing I hate to say, Sam is turning into a real ass and Jared is playing him, as someone mentioned above, very flat.  I mean, maybe Jared's just having a hard time with his mental health, which explains the flatness and I feel bad for him, but that's not behind Sam being an ass.  That's the writing.

Peek at next week, no. No.  No.  No.  Luci must die.  Kill it!  Kill it with fire! Kill it with fire now!  And I'll have to watch the preview again because as soon as I saw Luci I forgot what came before and had a supernova of loathing exploding in my brain so saw nothing after.  *hangshead*

[Whodunnit]

You know, usually when I see some teen in a movie or show whining about the SATs I roll my eyes and think that they will be fine. On the other hand, that girl who walked right into the flying knife  (that was moving in an established pattern, no less)...

I mean what he was doing was no more dangerous than shooting an arrow at a target, though I guess now I know why my archery teacher felt it was actually neccesary to tell us to wait until every one was done shooting to collect our arrows from the target.

Or a better example might be the night I sat in a circle of people on the grass and watched while this hippy guy twirled fiery batons in complicated patterns.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Whodunnit

[Whodunnit]

I guess what I struggle with in that scene is the fact that they would be so afraid as to be in a complete panic. I can understand being uneasy, sure. But the knife was moving side to side, not towards them and supposedly they had become friends.

I've got it! Her mom was the assistant of a knife thrower who died in a tragic accident.

Edited March 22, 2019 by Whodunnit

[tennisgurl]

What was up with Jack when he was with the teens this week? Yeah he is young and innocent, but he was acting like some kind of pod person pretending to be a human. I mean, even early season Cas trying to blend in with normal people was less awkward!

The hunt itself was pretty cool, even if it felt like a full on 80s slasher movie at various points full of dumb choices made by seemingly dumb people who like to wander around the creepy woods at night. However, I was happy to get a creepy monster for once in ages, it was creative looking and its nice to see the show actually going back to its horror roots, which I really miss. So some good and some bad with this one. 

So I guess Jack will inevitably head towards the dark side and have to be killed, but will probably be brought back. Wow, he really IS a Winchester! I swear I dont hate Jack, I've liked him at various points, but soul damaged Jack just takes away the stuff about him I liked, and just leaves an annoying two year old uber powered teen that is the most magical powerful being in the whole universe (I know you thought it was one of the last thirty billion characters who are supposed to be the biggest badass in the universe, but its for real now!) all of the sudden who eats up just so much screen time. 

Back off, Sam. Self important has never been a good look on you, and now it looks even worse. Yeah, took about five seconds to stop being happy that his brother isnt dead I guess. 

[gonzosgirrl]

4 hours ago, Casseiopeia said:

Well this episode looked like it had been written by a first time writer, directed by a first time director and edited by an assistant editor.  Very amateurish effort by all.  Can't blame the cast.  They did the best they could with what they had to work with.  It was all just awkward. 

 A giant nothing burger topped with bitter Sam sauce, served with a side of cardboard cutout Dean. 

[Female83]

The ep could have been better. 

[Ray Adverb]

Is Jack's soul intact now?  He was showing a lot of sadness and empathy when he accidentally hurt that girl with his little knife trick.  If he'd really burnt off his soul, he'd be basically a sociopath with no ability to feel such emotions.

Pretty boring.  I never really liked monster of the week episodes.  But with Michael dead, is there even a story line?

Edited March 22, 2019 by Ray Adverb

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, Ray Adverb said:

Is Jack's soul intact now?  He was showing a lot of sadness and empathy when he accidentally hurt that girl with his little knife trick.  If he'd really burnt off his soul, he'd be basically a sociopath with no ability to feel such emotions.

Jack doesn't need a soul for that. Cas shows sadness and empathy, too, without a soul, because he has grace.  And Jack has grace.  Which means the whole soulless story with him is pointless.  

[Aeryn13]

This week on Nougatnatural...

Making Jack the center of everything is utterly boring. The teenagers are equally boring.

You wouldn`t know Dean nominally had a story until two episodes ago because noooooothiiiiiiiing.

Sam of course is still angsty and bitchy all over the place. Wah, wah, lying is bad. 

As per usual, Sam finds the hunt, finds what the monster is and dishes on the lore to Dean. Yawn. 

Dean jumping from the corpse? Seriously? That wasn`t even funny, that was just stupid. And more comic relief with "the internet is only for porn". Not to mention another old joke just for Dean.

The Sheriff getting the kill was really awkward. Anything so Dean doesn`t, huh?

The only good bit was Dean wrestling the shotgun away, the character was competent there for 0.4 seconds. 

In general, a boring mess. I`d rather watch Wendigo, the episode.  

[gonzosgirrl]

I thought Jensen caught his fingers on the drawer and that whole bit was adlibbed. Otherwise,  it is completely stupid and entirely out of character. AKA just another day in Dabbernatural.

[Aeryn13]

1 minute ago, gonzosgirrl said:

I thought Jensen caught his fingers on the drawer and that whole bit was adlibbed. Otherwise,  it is completely stupid and entirely out of character. AKA just another day in Dabbernatural.

In that case it would be the fault of a newbie director not making the call that this was gag reel material but was too stupid for the episode.   

[sigmaforce86]

I must be in the minority - I liked it.  Or maybe it's just because it was enough of a monster of the week story and I've been pretty vocal about missing the "saving people hunting things" days.  They can't go back to the old days now but those were the hunts I liked and this was pretty close to that, guess that was enough for me.

Jack acted like a typical teenager.   Get's a little attention for knowing about monsters so brings the whole stack of demon research books to show off (I thought for awhile that Tom would read out loud and accidentally summon something).   Get's a little attention for throwing and floating a knife and starts flying it all over to show off.   It's the one thing that rang true - kids of a certain age will do some stunt or dumb thing that the other kids admire and they like the attention so much they'll go "now watch this" and do something even stupider.    And I have to admit Tom watching Ghost Facers and the little clip of Harry and Ed calling out Sam and Dean was pretty funny.

That said they didn't really need to B story with Jack, not sure where they're going with it except for fall out later when the boys find out Jack used his power badly and the possibility that Jack burned off another piece of has half-soul to heal Stacy.  I do expect though that Dean is going to go to town for the beer and Stacy is going to flip out on him yelling that he needs to keep that freaky kid away from them.  

The Canadian filming location was showing this week - The bunker is in Kansas but most of the products on the store shelf where Jack was shopping had both English and French labels  (easiest to see on the mac & cheese boxes)

Edited March 22, 2019 by sigmaforce86

[gonzosgirrl]

44 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Dean could have overruled everybody and found a way to bury himself at sea.

Responding in BvJ

[SueB]

Saw a gif of 'Dean' jerking back when the table came out.

And he says "Whoa mother...".

Given Jensen JUST said his favorite curse word is 'motherfucker', I'm calling that 100% adlibbed.  As speculated above, probably caught on something.  Hopefully he wasn't hurt. But, what impresses me is the way Jared just plays through it like a bit.  And so does Jensen.  Man, these guys are pros. And Jensen does have cat like reflexes.  If I was Jared I would have been all "are you okay??" (obviously I'm not a professional actor).  But he doesn't miss a beat with an 'in-character' line and Jensen responds with an 'in-character' line. 

Having said all that - despite how well they pulled that off, it was a discontinuity that doesn't work as well as most adlibs.  I would have cut it.   

[Bobcatkitten]

So I kind of liked it. I love MOTW episodes generally and I enjoyed that they built it up a bit and we got to know the sheriff and his son. We have all been in that creepy ass bathroom and I loved that scene. The monster and the stomach acid, eewwww. 

I thought the sheriff asking why they aren't telling people and preparing them very interesting. Hadn't ever dealt with that idea before. 

I have had very little connection to Jack but this storyline I did. It suddenly occurred to me how crappy his life is. I mean, should he be enrolled in school and learning how to do life in a normal way? And frankly him trying to impress his new friends rang true to me. And then lying to his "parents." I liked it. 

One thing about Cas. They desperately NEED him to be in charge of heaven or some other fulltime gig so that when he comes around it's easy to explain that he is helping vs. the other way around - why he ISN'T there. 

And one more thing - I find it so weird that Sam is soooo affected still by all this but we have had absolutely NO fallout from Dean, who was actually possessed by the archangel and let him out (though not his fault). He's just very blase' and it's weird. 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Bobcatkitten

[Katy M]

28 minutes ago, Bobcatkitten said:

So I kind of liked it. I love MOTW episodes generally and I enjoyed that they built it up a bit and we got to know the sheriff and his son. We have all been in that creepy ass bathroom and I loved that scene. The monster and the stomach acid, eewwww. 

I liked the MOTW part. And I always like it when we get a bit more background than something's killing people. I just wish that had been the whole episode, then maybe we could have gotten even more.

29 minutes ago, Bobcatkitten said:

I thought the sheriff asking why they aren't telling people and preparing them very interesting. Hadn't ever dealt with that idea before

It was touched upon in Freaks and Geeks when Dean told Krissy her sloppy behavior would let everyone know what was going on and she said that would be good for people to actually know.

30 minutes ago, Bobcatkitten said:

I have had very little connection to Jack but this storyline I did. It suddenly occurred to me how crappy his life is. I mean, should he be enrolled in school and learning how to do life in a normal way? And frankly him trying to impress his new friends rang true to me. And then lying to his "parents." I liked it. 

I more or less wish Jack didn't exist, but I agree with you about the whole thing ringing true.  I remember there was a TV guide review about Doogie Howser way back when (yes, I'm old) and it said that it was a bad idea done well. I'm going to paraphrase that and say that it was a pointless/boring story done well.

[HollyG]

1 hour ago, SueB said:

Saw a gif of 'Dean' jerking back when the table came out.

And he says "Whoa mother...".

Given Jensen JUST said his favorite curse word is 'motherfucker', I'm calling that 100% adlibbed.  As speculated above, probably caught on something.  Hopefully he wasn't hurt. But, what impresses me is the way Jared just plays through it like a bit.  And so does Jensen.  Man, these guys are pros. And Jensen does have cat like reflexes.  If I was Jared I would have been all "are you okay??" (obviously I'm not a professional actor).  But he doesn't miss a beat with an 'in-character' line and Jensen responds with an 'in-character' line. 

Having said all that - despite how well they pulled that off, it was a discontinuity that doesn't work as well as most adlibs.  I would have cut it.   

May I ask.... what table thing/meme/"Whoa mother...".? I must have missed it. When did it happen in the episode?

[Jynnan tonnix]

I didn't hate it - at least, not once the MOTW part got into full swing, though there were things about that which bugged as well. For one thing, as has been mentioned, the fact that the monster was tied to a pretty darn big stretch of woodland where he, by definition, was going to continue to eat what humans he could find. That's a really poorly-thought-out curse. Also, if he was so ravenous, why were the bodies of all the victims just slashed up with just their throats ripped up rather than being eaten?

I did enjoy Adam Beach as well...Hadn't really seen him in years and years, so wasn't even sure if that's who it was at first, so it was nice to see so many people mentioning him here. He's always had quite a presence, I think, and was kind of surprised he never seemed to make it big. The kid playing his son had really cool looking face as well, I thought - kind of a cross between Keanu Reeves and a young Victor Garber circa Godspell (yeah, I'm old).

Speaking of faces, the first time that teen boy was shown a few episodes back, my first thought was that it was going to be a flashback and he was going to be a young Sam. And in this episode, especially when he was wearing the beanie, I thought that would have been great casting. I keep wondering whether at some point (given his obsession with monsters, Ghostfacers, and such) he is eventually going to come around to hunting as a sort of Sam Mini-me. Probably not, and it probably wouldn't be a good idea anyway.

Lastly, the beginning of the episode, with all the emphasis on Jack's  OTT naivete was truly cringeworthy. Assuming it was some sort of directing choice, as Alex is at least a better actor than THAT. I can understand where they were going with the set-up, but had it been handled with a little bit of subtlety, the whole episode could have been so much better. Oh, and I was confused at first between the "cabin" that the kids were meeting at and the "Parker cabin"...since I didn't catch the names, I thought at first that they might end up being the same place, even though that would put the two stories in ridiculously close proximity given that Sam and Dean had "gone off" on a hunt. But it's not as though the show hasn't had some issues with distances in the past. At any rate, the "cabin" that the kids were at was in surprisingly good shape, even to the extent of apparently still having electricity, for someplace that "no-one ever goes". Only the torn-up furniture gave any indication of it's not being a normal family home.

[SueB]

12 minutes ago, HollyG said:

May I ask.... what table thing/meme/"Whoa mother...".? I must have missed it. When did it happen in the episode?

Originally posted on Tumblr by "ItsOkaySammy"... couldn't get a permalink from there.

Here's the Tumblr post I saw:
https://sensitivehandsomeactionman.tumblr.com/post/183624160489/itsokaysammy-14x16-dont-go-in-the-woods

Morgue scene - checking out the first victim.

And if you look at the set, you can see clearly where the arm moves out (muscle reflex thing in dead person) - so it was a plan or a mistake.  Either way, well played.

Edited March 22, 2019 by SueB

[HollyG]

10 minutes ago, SueB said:

Originally posted on Tumblr by "ItsOkaySammy"... couldn't get a permalink from there.

Here's the Tumblr post I saw:
https://sensitivehandsomeactionman.tumblr.com/post/183624160489/itsokaysammy-14x16-dont-go-in-the-woods

Morgue scene - checking out the first victim.

And if you look at the set, you can see clearly where the arm moves out (muscle reflex thing in dead person) - so it was a plan or a mistake.  Either way, well played.

Thank you! I completely missed it. 

[Katy M]

19 minutes ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

For one thing, as has been mentioned, the fact that the monster was tied to a pretty darn big stretch of woodland where he, by definition, was going to continue to eat what humans he could find. That's a really poorly-thought-out curse. Also, if he was so ravenous, why were the bodies of all the victims just slashed up with just their throats ripped up rather than being eaten?

I think the tribe wanted him eating the "white man."  Maybe there was something specific in the curse about not eating full-blooded natives that the sheriff left out.

20 minutes ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

Also, if he was so ravenous, why were the bodies of all the victims just slashed up with just their throats ripped up rather than being eaten?

That was also part of the curse. He was ravenous and he killed, but then he couldn't eat, because he would no longer be ravenous.   That's actually pretty ingenious.  We are cursing you to be hungry and we will put a big juicy steak in front of you every night but you are cursed to not actually eat it.  he may have been glad when he was killed for good.

[Jynnan tonnix]

1 minute ago, Katy M said:

I think the tribe wanted him eating the "white man."  Maybe there was something specific in the curse about not eating full-blooded natives that the sheriff left out.

That was also part of the curse. He was ravenous and he killed, but then he couldn't eat, because he would no longer be ravenous.   That's actually pretty ingenious.  We are cursing you to be hungry and we will put a big juicy steak in front of you every night but you are cursed to not actually eat it.  he may have been glad when he was killed for good.

Ah, thanks...Guess I missed some of the finer points.

[Commando Cody]

What the hell did I just watch? This episode looked like a cross between stupid Buffy curses and The Night Stalker. I even looked up monsters from 'The Night Stalker' because I wasn't sure that Carl Kolchak didn't kill one. 

Are the writers just getting lazy? I could deal with the monster, but the old kids playing with swords and someone gets stabbed, what are we going to do? Trope. I like Jack, but they just aren't writing for him. They don't seem to know what to do with him except give him these lame situations. 

This was not a good episode.  

[SueB]

42 minutes ago, Commando Cody said:

What the hell did I just watch? This episode looked like a cross between stupid Buffy curses and The Night Stalker. I even looked up monsters from 'The Night Stalker' because I wasn't sure that Carl Kolchak didn't kill one. 

Are the writers just getting lazy? I could deal with the monster, but the old kids playing with swords and someone gets stabbed, what are we going to do? Trope. I like Jack, but they just aren't writing for him. They don't seem to know what to do with him except give him these lame situations. 

This was not a good episode.  

Hey now... don't be dissing my man Kolchak.  My husband watches that on ME TV all the time!  Yes we laugh alot.  In fact it was because of The Night Stalker he started watching Supernatural.  Yes, he's more of a MOTW fan.  I think he'll like this acid-bile MOTW episode. (we are still on S3! so he hasn't seen it yet). 

I like that we have a new MOTW.  I like the history -- take a Wendigo wannabe, add a well-deserved curse from a Native American Shaman -- get something even more gross that turns into goo when killed.  

Edited March 22, 2019 by SueB

[trudysmom]

5 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

we haven't heard much from Dean about any guilt he may have.  

Dean drinks his guilt, buries it deep.  That's been his MO for years.  After spending the week watching old episodes, I remember that being holier-than-thou is also Sam's MO.  Several times lately I've watched someone, usually a demon  call Dean self-righteous, but actually it's Sam.  Dean is confident, not just in his hunter abilities, but in his judgement.  He may later regret some of his choices, but in the moment he is absolutely sure he is doing the right thing.  Sam always has to feel his feels, to death.  This episode it was guilt hangover and being a Good Dad to Jack.  I just wonder how he'll feel he finds out about Jack's accidental stabbing/resurrection. 

[gonzosgirrl]

4 hours ago, Bobcatkitten said:

And one more thing - I find it so weird that Sam is soooo affected still by all this but we have had absolutely NO fallout from Dean, who was actually possessed by the archangel and let him out (though not his fault). He's just very blase' and it's weird. 

It's weird enough to make me question this whole reality. If it were just Dean being Dean and eating his feelings, they (or at least Jensen) would give some indication of that. Jensen has always been brilliant at bringing what isn't on the page if he feels the need for it. The fact that there is nothing, no meaningful pauses, no pained looks when no one is looking, nothing - tells me that he's been instructed not to do that, to let us see and believe that he's unaffected. It's utter bullshit to me, either way, but that is the only explanation that makes any sense. I wish it were because there is a big twist/payoff coming, but if there is, it's the most un-spoiled for something we've ever been.

[PAForrest]

Well that was a whole lot of whatevs. And Bergamot is right, there really wasn't an A-plot here.

Of course, the Winchesters weren't even in B-A-plot all that much. It was more the sheriff, his kid, etc. I like Adam Beach, it's always nice to see him show in something I'm watching. The tribal-cursed monster worked well enough. I didn't so much mind that the sheriff got the kill, because he needed it. But I did like how he and Dean worked together to set up the kill. That's a small something for Dean, at least, and he's getting so  very little now that I have to hold tight to whatever few seconds of decent screen time he gets, because it's few and far between. Of course, everyone - and I do mean everyone - is expecting the audience, as well as all the other characters. to pretend Dean never had a thing to do with the Michael plotlet. And I don't think that's much of a compliment from the showrunners/writers about what they think of the braintrust of their audience.

The Winchesters working together would normally be a plus if it wasn't for bitchface Sam and his almost non-stop condescension toward Dean, because Sam's soooooo affected by the Michael plotlet that Dean apparently wasn't even in the season for. Just STFU, Sam. So unfortunately I couldn't enjoy their time together, little as it was.

As for the B-B-plotlet, I had to FF through a lot of this. It was just cringeworthy, not to mention boring, though personally I don't think it's because Alex is any worse an actor than the others. I think he's doing his best to portray a Nougat Sue that's not exactly human. I might even feel a little sorry for Nougat Sue and his inability to really engage with the human teens if it wasn't for how badly written the whole thing was. I really just don't care.

As for the relentless insistence on trying to convince the audience they think are not only brain dead but blind that Dean is ancient - as if Sam is so much younger than him (he ain't) - and butt fugly, it simply comes across as BTS pettiness and raging jealousy on the part of the writing staff that Jensen is as handsome as he is. You're not in high school anymore, people. Grow up.