Series 2, Episode 11: Playthings

And so begins a drunken trilogy of episodes. Not a trilogy in the sense that the episodes are in anyways connected, but a trilogy as in I watched them all in one night whilst playing a little drinking game.

Leanne came over to join me in the drinking and the watching and generally to give me a kick up the ass to get some more episodes watched before the end of the year. Before starting the episodes we decided on a few rules for the drinking game. I'm not sure I can remember them all but they were roughly along the lines of taking a drink anytime one of the following events happened:

1) Dean or Sam are tied up

2) Dean or Sam are knocked unconscious

3) Dean and Sam share a brotherly moment

4) Dean or Sam break into somewhere

5) Dean says "son of a bitch"

6) Dean or Sam use fake identification or otherwise impersonate someone

7) Dean and Sam are mistaken for a gay couple

8) The episode ends with a shot of the brothers driving away in their car

Overall it was a pretty successful game. I don't think either of us got too drunk. We decided that next time we would have to try it with shots.

So let's see what I can remember about the first episode that we watched.

This episode centred around a hotel that was due to be closed and knocked down. Unfortunately a spirit of a dead girl trapped in the hotel didn't want that to happen and so she was killing off anyone who threatened the building. I think she was possibly using some kind of voodoo stuff. I'm a little vague on that bit. But there was a creepy dolls house and whatever happened to the dolls in the house then went on to happen to the people in the hotel.

From the very beginning I got a "Shining" feel from this episode. It's set in a hotel and their are two creepy girls roaming it's corridors so it's not a stretch to make that link. I guessed straightaway that something was going to be odd about the girls and sure enough I was proved to be correct in my suspicions when one of the girls turned out to be a ghost.

Leanne pointed out at the end of the episode that the room that Dean and Sam were put in was room 237 which also happens to be the haunted room from The Shining so that was quite cool to see they were making a reference to the movie. There was also another scene with Dean having a drink at the hotel bar with the creepy looking bar man which also reminded me of the bar scene from The Shining.

One of the first drinks we had to take was caused by Dean and Sam being mistaken for a gay couple upon entering the hotel. When Dean questions Sam as to why he thinks this happens from time to time, Sam replies that Dean comes across as quite butch and people may think he's compensating for something. I nearly leapt off the sofa at this because that is literally what I have been saying from the start of the entire series!

A good episode overall and quite creepy in parts. Dolls are always creepy anyway. I mean who'd want to play with these monstrosities!?

   

    

Series 2, Episode 10: Hunted

It's Christmas! Or at least it was Christmas! It's now the day after Boxing Day and I'm in the post-Christmas blues period. I feel fed up tonight so I decided to crack open a few drinks and see how many episodes I can get through. I'm guessing one if my past form is anything to go by.

As a side note, I should say that something quite unusual happened recently. So the last episode I watched was called Croatoan and was about a town where people were suffering from a disease and then disappearing. Literally within a few days of watching this episode I was listening to a new Doctor Who audio play (yes I listen to Doctor Who audio plays, I'm not ashamed!) and the Doctor found himself in the middle of a totally deserted settlement with the word "Croatoan" carved into the walls! I'd never heard this word until I saw it in Supernatural and now it seems to be following me about! Spooky!

In the last episode Dean revealed to Sam that their father told him something about Sam before he died. I hope we find out in this episode what it is as it seems to have been dragging on for ages, but then that may just be because I have been watching the series very slowly.

A young man, Scott, is having a counselling session. He tells his therapist that he has developed the ability to electrocute creatures by touching them and that he killed the neighbour's cat. When the therapist asks him why he would do this Scott tells him because the yellow eyed man that visits him in his dreams told him to. What on earth does the yellow eyed demon have against cats??

I thought Scott was going to be the villain of this episode but he is stabbed and killed as he is getting into his car.

Meanwhile Dean reveals the big secret. Apparently their father told Dean that he needed to save Sam or he may eventually have to end up killing him...That's annoyingly vague and understandably Sam seems to feel the same as me as he flips out demanding to know what that means.

Woohoo! I don't normally get excited by production stuff but this episode (as indicated by the titles) is directed by Rachel Talalay. She was involved with production on the Nightmare On Elm Street movies, directing the 6th film and she has also directed four episodes of Doctor Who, those being the season finales for series 8 and series 9. In fact I have seen her in person when I bumped into a group of Cybermen in London one weekend (like you do!). She was there then! She's a great director. I don't normally notice such things but I'll be looking more closely at this episode now that I know this.

Sam just got blown up! He was exploring a deserted house when he tripped a trap and a grenade blew him to pieces! Fortunately this was all a vision of a young woman who obviously has developed the same gift as Sam for premonitions. All these people discovering super powers....it's all getting a bit too "Heroes" for my liking.

Sam goes to visit Ellen for help. (Is it Ellen or Helen? I really should look that up. In fact I've got a feeling I may even have commented on that before). She tells him that she forgave his dad a long time ago for what he did that caused the death of her husband. When Sam asks what happened she quickly changes the subject. Why won't anyone be straight with each other??

Ava (the girl with the vision) finds Sam and warns him. It's quite funny to see her explain her vision whilst assuming that Sam is going to think she is totally nuts. When he says he believes her and tells her about the yellow eyed demon having a plan for people like them then the tables are turned and she is left thinking that Sam is the crazy one. Dean tracks them down just in time to save them because Gordon is back (from episode 3, this blog is handy if you have a crap memory like me!) and he tries to shoot them both through the motel window.

And now Dean is tied to a chair again! That is definitely worthy of necking your drink in the Supernatural drinking game!

It must have been Gordon who stabbed Scott at the start of the episode! I'm so slow! Can't believe it's taken me this long to twig on to that.

Whilst waiting for Sam to fall into his trap, Gordon hits Dean with the age old Hitler question. If you met Hitler as a child, could you kill that child? Similarly Sam is destined to become part of the demon's army so needs to be killed now.

It's all getting very tense now as Sam is sneaking into the house where Dean is being held captive but also where the trip wire with the grenade is. Surely he can't hit the trap if he knows to expect it. The only problem I can see is that Gordon has actually set two trip wires up so even if Sam misses one then he may hit the next!

Sam manages to escape the traps. I'm not really sure how as they both go off but I'm fairly sure he threw his shoes into the room to set them off. After tipping the police off they come and arrest Gordon. He was a right little shit so I'm glad he's finally been taken care of.

Bit of a strange ending when Dean and Sam go to visit Ava and they find her boyfriend dead with his throat slit. The demon has been there as indicated by sulphur residue. Sam finds Ava engagement ring on the bedroom floor. I'm not sure what we are supposed to assume from this. Has Ava killed her boyfriend or been kidnapped by the demon and the demon killed her boyfriend? Will this be something that is picked up on in the next episode? I hope so because I quite liked Ava as a character and would be good to see her back and get some resolution to this plot. I think we are meant to think she has done it. That way it further emphasises threat that one day Sam will turn evil too!

Series 2, Episode 9: Croatoan

It's been quite a while since I did one of these. I'm afraid I've been too busy with I'm A Celebrity and trying to watch all six Star Wars movies before episode 7 comes out next weekend! Add to that the fact that I've been feeling lazy. I'm now faced with a choice of watching an episode of Supernatural or putting the Christmas tree up. Supernatural it is!

Sam has another one of his premonitions of death. This time he sees Dean shooting a guy tied to a chair. I was a little confused as the guy in the chair looked exactly like a guy who was in the last series so I assumed it was the same character but now it seems it's not the same actor at all! I'm going to have to check after of they are related somehow because they look and sound so alike!

Over the last few episodes Sam has been worried that Dean is going a little mental through grief at the loss of their father. He has shown concerns that Dean is becoming too aggressive and enjoying killing a little too much. With that in mind I'm wondering why Sam has even mentioned this recent vision to his brother. It looks like Dean is killing an innocent man so why tell Dean exactly where it all happens so that they can visit that town in the first place?? Am I making any sense?

Heading to the home of the boy in the vision they find that he is not in. Whilst there they discover something else weird is going on. The mother of the family is tied up whilst the father and the boy's brother (who is quite cute by the way) are performing some kind of ritual over her by dripping blood over a wound in her arm. It's all pretty gross. Fortunately Sam and Dean burst in in time to stop whatever the hell they were trying to do. When the father comes at them, Dean shoots him dead but the boy (his name is Jake) manages to escape by jumping through a window.

After examining the father's body at a local doctors surgery it seems that he was suffering from some kind of disease. This has now been passed on to the mother when they were dripping the blood on her and she goes crazy and attacks the doctor. Luckily Sam is on hand to whack her round the head with a fire extinguisher.

Meanwhile, due to all the phones in the town being out, Dean is driving to the next town looking for help. Unfortunately the roads are blocked off by an armed gang and he narrowly escapes from them. I hope his car isn't damaged!

Reaching the relative safety of the doctors office and with another survivor in tow, Dean finds out about the mothers infection. She is locked up in a store room but Dean knows she has to be killed before she gets too powerful. Releasing her from the room she begins to beg and plead, claiming that she isn't one of the infected but Dean shoots her anyway. It seems really shocking that he did that! I mean I was fairly sure she was infected but it still ended up with him seemingly shooting a defenceless woman whilst she cried and pleaded for her life. Pretty grim stuff!

The guy from the vision turns up at the doctors and is tied up. We reach the point where Dean is about to shoot him and then he changes his mind. I can't remember if this is something new for Sam's visions. Is this the first one that hasn't come true? I genuinely can't recall whether it is or not.

A very weird ending. I'm not sure I can even describe what went on because I don't really understand it all but in summary everyone in the town disappeared. Sam was infected and then he wasn't and I'm not sure why. It seems it was all some kind of test set up by the yellow eyed demon to see if Sam was immune. Again I'm not sure why...

Not sure what I made of this episode. It just seemed very odd with no proper resolution to the plot. 

There were some nice moments between the brothers though like when Sam thought he was infected and Dean insisted on staying behind with him. Dean admitted that he was tired of the life they were leading which is unfortunate considering they've got at least 8 more seasons of this to go!

Also Dean has finally admitted that their father told him something about Sam before he died. But we still don't know what!! Could he have a different father maybe?? That might explain more about why John and Sam had such a troubled relationship.