caffienekitty: (Squee Dean)
caffienekitty ([personal profile] caffienekitty) wrote2008-02-15 02:49 am

SPN Reaction: Reaction to 3.11

Reactions to 3.11 - "Mystery Spot"

Contains much babble, squee, capslocking and randomness.

Pre-Ep rambling:

The whole freaking universe wanted me to be spoiled for this one. What I know, while avoiding spoilers at all costs:

-Title "Mystery Spot"
-It's like the movie "Groundhog Day". Someone's trapped where things repeat over and over with different outcomes.
-Dean dies a lot.

I am so pissed at being spoiled for that, I could scream. Because knowing that lessens what impact the first iteration would have had. And I want that full impact, dammit!

*Spoiler that's apparently for 3.12 redacted*

Frigging spoilers.

*grumps*

Anyways, whatever. So, I say Sam's going to be the one stuck in the loop, trying to keep Dean from dying. And if they use that Groundhog Day song, the one that's on the clock radio every morning? What is it, Sonny and Cher? "I got you babe?" I'm going to laugh like a loon.

So, onward...


[three hours later]

Oh frigging hell that was awesome!

-RADIO! I knew it! Like they've ever used the clock radio before. Not Sonny and Cher, that would be way pushing it. Asia? Hee.

-Flamingo room? Yike.

-Dean's little lipsync or whatever you call that? Rocking out to Asia? Oh dear god, how long before there's animated icons of that? :-D *sets timer*

-Synchronized dental hygiene! Dean gargling on and on and on just to annoy his little brother. And Sam looking at the toothpaste like he's not sure if Dean's replaced it with Preparation H or not. Hee. Brothers.

-See, here's what annoys me about knowing the "Groundhog Day" theme. In the first iteration, I'm marking things that will recur later and it's distracting my focus, dammit!

-Only Dean would order a side of bacon with a sausage wrapped in a pancake. At least I think that's what the special was. I have no idea how hot-sauce works with that, but okay.

-That is one fast diner. Holy flapjacks.

-Oregon Vortex? Really?

-Blue-green trippy swirly hallway!!! Set design loves that hallway! I love set design! Yay set design!!!

-They had fun in the mystery house too. Hee!

-Aaaand Dean dies before the claw monster belch. And because I knew what was happening, I giggled, because I knew it'd be back to the start again after the commercial break. *stabs spoilers*

-Now, though, is when I have a brief lovely theory that it's all Sam's doing. Dean gets shot, Sam has a psychic aneurysm, and locks himself into a time loop, and then every time Dean dies he throws time back a day and tries again. I miss psychic Sammy. Although I am kind of surprised that that didn't seem to get floated as a theory in show at any point. Okay, maybe it's a big step up from mentally shoving a dresser, but for Dean? I can see Sam doing it. But he's not, so anyway.

-Dean with the car. Yeesh. That effect sequence stood up quite well under my VCR's slo-mo. Ouchies.

-Also SAM!!! BASIC FIRST AID! DO NOT MOVE THE PERSON WITH MULTIPLE FRACTURES!!! *facepalm* Poor Dean. Ow.

-I can't believe I'm now laughing at Dean dying.

-I thought for some reason this ep was supposed to be 3.12, and that the "we need to go find Bela" stuff was tacked on, but it's quite integrated, so either this originally was supposed to interrupt the chasing down of Bela, or there's an alternate version of the script which doesn't mention Bela kicking around. But I know nothing. Seems odd though. Somehow...

-DEJA VU CONVERSATION!!! Is totally not Dean being stupid, because that's exactly what Sam's describing. And as weird as the weird crap the Winchester's deal with is, temporal anomalies are not part of their purview. Poor distressed Sam. He looks so young when he's unhappy.

-Dean on the third iteration, asking whether his death by speeding jackass looked cool, like in the movies. Trying to distract Sam from being distressed by joking. Aw. And then Sam gets more distressed because pedestrian vs vehicle is not a pretty way to go. :-/ *pats them both*

-I love how the repeating day slowly wears on Sam as he gets progressively freakier as the days wear on, and Dean's always the same. I love it, because every single time they walk up that street, or sit in that diner, those shots were probably done in the same day or two. Which means that Jared is having to build that freakedness in each separate location, try to sync it with the level of freakedness he showed in the previous set on that iteration on the previous set, while Jensen has to play like he knows nothing each time, and react to the freakedness levels appropriately, all while saying almost exactly the same lines each time. That? Is crazy. And massive kudos to them and all the bit players and directors and so on for pulling that off.

-It keeps coming to mind, so I'll mention it. I was peripherally involved in the production of a scene from a play called "A Resounding Tinkle" They had to restart the damned play twice because people got into never-ending dialog loops, and when they did finally go al the way through without restarting, the play was about an hour longer than expected due to people getting lost in the repeating dialog. This show, with the same dialog being delivered completely differently between scenes? Reminds me of that. Only with 5 billion percent more awesome. It must have been maddening to film.

-Toon death! "How about chinese?" *splat* Total Wile E Coyote toon death. Hee.

-I love that Dean calls the waitress 'Sweetheart'. I do. It sounds gentle, a term of endearment. If I was that waitress, he'd get free pie.

-But unfortunately, he chokes to death. Seriously, those are abnormally huge sausages to serve as a breakfast side, aren't they?

-The Many Deaths of Dean montage. I still can't believe I laughed. But that was... HA! In the shower! "Do these tacos taste funny?" It makes Dean look accident-prone and clumsy, but it's all the Trickster shifting events to prove his point. In any case, I was helpless with laughter through the whole montage.

-Interesting to note, they never had the death I half-expected. Sam, having totally given up, wakes up, goes, gets the gun, and shoots Dean himself. But then the reason I think that death never happened is that Sam never totally gave up. Which, for future expected events? Oh Sam.

-Sam with the axe, tearing apart the Mystery Spot building while Dean's humouring him by guarding the owner of the building who they duct-taped up, and letting him destroy an entire building on nothing more than Sam's word of 'this is what needs to happen'. Wow. Dean will let Sam go a very long way before putting on the brakes. *glee*

-Poor Sam, with the accidentally axe-murdering Dean. Aw.

-On the second or third iteration in the diner, maybe the final one, the guy who turns out to be the Trickster is oddly framed for a second, and I knew suddenly that was who was behind it. But not who he was.

-Sam with the mad pick-pocketing skills! Yus! I love competent Winchesters!

-Doris the waitress does archery! I love that they picked an atypical deadly hobby for her.

-The whole big long simultaneous echo section, with Sam saying what Dean was saying! \o/ "Sam Winchester wears makeup!" Hee! Boys!

-I truly can't believe Dean never went to talk to the pretty girl.

-The reuse of the barking dog shot is made of win. It's the exact same shot each time, but the way it's cut, it blends into the current iteration and I don't know whether that's direction or post-production, but *glomphs*

-Dean Winchester, savaged to death by a Golden Retriever. There is so much wrong with that sentence.

-Dean calls debunker man a "Schmunk"? "Schmunk"? Heh. Neologism? Cool.

-The Trickster reveal actually got me. No, really. No. Really! Yeah, he was in the teaser, but so was Bela and Ruby and the Colt, and I figured the Trickster was in there as either another thing they'd hunted in the mini-ass-kicking montage at the start, and maybe as a reference for a reason why Sam goes nuts during the Groundhog thing and starts whacking random people because he thinks they're the Trickster. No, I didn't recognize Richard Speight Jr.'s name in the credits either. I'm, like stunned.

-I'm rather glad I was apparently out when that particular clue phone was ringing off the hook, because when he shifted into his usual form, I shouted "OH HOT DAMN!" at the TV. And again when I re-watched it. Which considering on the Trickster's last outing, I kind of loathed him? Surprised me.

-(My neighbour probly thinks I'm nuts, but better she should learn this sooner rather than later.)

-A wormhole? Seriously? Ouch! So he's, what, floating in outer space near Babylon 5 or Cetaganda now? Double ouch.

-I love that it all ends up tying into the Season arc in a way that I no longer have the mental capacity to comprehend as it is 2AM, and I'm not done yet. Needs re-watching. Is the Trickster on someone's side here?

-Sam looks so young when he's happy too. How the hell does a 6'4" guy with shoulders like a sherman tank manage to look five?

-Why is Dean loading stuff from the weapons compartment into the duffel bag before they leave? Is this the 'carry on' arsenal or what?

-Dean dies on Wednesday and Sam doesn't wake up. Predictable but... Duuuuuuuuuuuuuude. Omg. Ow. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeean! Oh Sam.

-I fully admit, that on the first watch through, from this point up until the Trickster shows up again, my brain just stalled, and I was sort of wrapped around the little writing desk thing I keep the squee pad on, utterly rapt, occasionally making piteous meeping noises or flashing a double thumbs-up at the screen. Dude. Awesome.

-After Dean dies, Sam goes on a rampage of meticulous bad-assery. Oh. Wow. Hi fanfic! Hi! I've read about twelve versions of this with Sam or Dean as the survivor. This kicks ass! This montage is awesome. Poor Bobby.

-The gun locker from John's truck in the trunk of Metallicar!!! OMG, People! WTF? Did whoever bought that truck when they sold it not want the cool motorized locker, or did the production crew save the inside? It's gotta be the same one. Aside from the real world crap though, did Sam find John's truck in passing and save it? Did Bobby build him one? Eeeee!

-Sam doing first aid and minor surgery on himself!!! Oh wow! Speaking of fanfic again!

-I love how totally precise Sam's wall o'hunter crap for the Trickster is laid out. Yeow. That's... scary as hell. With the dead-eyed intensity he's got going on? Sammy is a scary, scary boy.

-Didja see?! Didja see!?!!! Sam orders two meals and only eats one! He orders a burger for Dean who's dead and omg I think my owwie meter done busted all to smash. Ow. Owwwwww. I bet that burger has extra onions. And pie. *flails* Oh Sam!

-Hee. Sam's feet stick off the end of the bed. Aw.

-Sam is killing me with the waking up like Dracula rising from his coffin! No rolling around, just ka-twanggggg, bolt upright. He did that in Scarecrow too, but the repetition of it in this ep with the waking up all the time is giving me giggles. Hee.

-Making the bed, precisely, before heading out to meet Bobby. There's meta in there, somewhere, with the later not making of the bed, I think.

-I knew Bobby was testing Sam. He wouldn't have suggested a ritual requiring a gallon of human blood otherwise.

-And seriously, what the hell would you do in a ritual with a gallon of fresh human blood? Shower? :-P

-Sam being ready to go out and kill a random human to bring Dean back and still not seeing what's wrong with that because he misses Dean too much? Ow. And I believe it. But ow. These two boys are gonna kill me yet.

-I'm not going to theorize about where I think this is going, since I did that back at the start of Season 3. About where Sam is going to go and what he's going to do to save Dean. Yeah that. Bring it the hell on, Kripke.

-Bobby. Oh I know it's fake!Bobby, but seriously. Just. Ow. Because I can believe Bobby would do exactly that (with a bit less Trickster-induced melodrama) if that was the only solution. Oh Bobby.

-That knife is the cheesiest knife ever. A giant kris blade? Made of, what? Black polycarbonate steel? Eurgh. But it was the Trickster's choice of knife so it makes sense. Drama Queen.

-And then Sam, with figuring Bobby's the Trickster.... Now, when did Sam start to assume that Bobby was the Trickster? Was Sam really ready to kill a random innocent, or was he lying because he figured Bobby was fake as soon as it was suggested? Hmm.

-Regardless, I never want Bobby to die again. Ever. Ever. OMG.

-And Sam, with that slow dawning thought that what if he was wrong, and what if he just killed Bobby, and with the soft gaspy sobby whimpery noises of imminent panic, and all the bad-assery crumbling until he's like five years old and all alone and the whole thing, oh damn.

-And when the Trickster shows himself, Sam doesn't attack. Admittedly, the Trickster has the only weapon that's useful against him, but Sam just begs with the abjectest puppy-dog eyes ever, and his voice does that break thing, only it's more real and, and oh wow. Padalecki's gotten awesome! *flails*

-"Freakish Cro-Magnon skull?" Naw, Sam's forehead just looks like that because his bangs are clenched.

-I really liked the Trickster in this ep. I have no idea what he's up too, really, but he seems to be trying to help in an odd Trickstery sort of way.

-"Travis Beagle in a skirt?" "Trashy Eagle on a shirt?" What did he say, and do I want to know what it means?

-On the CityTV feed in this commercial break, we got an urban legend-y/horror movie homage commercial for Extra gum. It was like they made the commercial to go with Supernatural. That was cool.

-HUG!!! OMG HUUUUUUUUUG!!!! The only way these boys ever hug is when one thinks the other was dead, which I totally called on some board on TWOP in the season 1 hiatus. That said? Um. No more hugging. Or rather no more dying. Find another reason to hug. Ow.

-I love that the Wednesday dialog is exactly the same for the most part, and yet the delivery and effect is so different. Excellent job.

-So, Sam has, what, months now of subjective solo bad-assery, practice, training, hunting, and having his soul beaten to crap by failing to save Dean? Yeowch. That should leave a mark.

-The unmade bed versus the tidy precise bed. Meta? Anyone? I'm drawing a blank right now but it is 2:40 AM and I have to work in the AM.


In conclusion: OMGYAY! *passes the hell out*


(Just a reminder, 'no spoilers for future eps' includes any mention of anything in any promos for next week airing on the CW. The City TV feed I watch doesn't have promos.)

[identity profile] percysowner.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 12:00 pm (UTC)(link)
The actual quote is "Travis BICKLE in a skirt". It is apparently a reference to a character in Taxi Driver (a movie I never saw). You can read about it here.

[identity profile] anniehow.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 02:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I was spoiled for the whole Groundhog-day and multipledeaths!Dean too, but maybe that was for the best because I am really, really bad with character deaths. I'd have probably stopped watching after that and reatreated to a corner to cry in a quivering mass of emo pain, so it turned out good. Staying resolutely unspoiled for the next ep, though ;P

I thought the whole thing was going to be some sort of explosive manifestation of Sam's psychic powers as well. Not only that but my brain completely blanked out the trickster from the previouslies so when he revealed himself I was stunned. That's what happens to my brain when Dean dies too much, apparently.

Now, I know the Sam-is-scary-obsessed montage was supposed to freak me out, but was I the only one that burst laughing out loud and thinking of Rambo and Silvester Stallone prowling through jungles when he's pushing seventy? No one? Just me? It's the bronzed and extra-pumped with side order of auto-bullet removal gratuitous chest shot that did me in. Guess it's just me then :D

I find it interesting that, to-date, the trickster is the only creature that kicked their asses so thoroughly and that they cannot harm. They managed to do in the christmas pagan gods, but that trickster just keeps on going.

I also wonder if Ruby bugged him into doing this, if he just woke up one morning thinking "convincing Sam Winchester that he can't save Dean would be fun!", or if there's some sort of underground conspiracy going on with all the supernatural creatures and their mission is to separate the brothers. I kinda want a cartoon drawn where Ruby is following the trickster around asking him to do it until he just caves out of desperation and annoyance :D

[identity profile] phoenix-rose-up.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Man I really need to watch this episode again. I just didn't feel the love last night :( lol

It wasnt that i though it was bad, but i just sat there frozen. and yes I was spoiled for exactly the same things as you were. and I'm sad to say i know enough about the next episode as well *shakes fist at messageboards with inappropriatly titled threads*

*is off to watch the episode again as stress relief before midterm today*

[identity profile] wynterwolf47.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
YAY!!!! I'm so glad it was good!! I'll look forward to this one when I watch them!

[identity profile] pen37.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
The person who bought truckzilla is actually [livejournal.com profile] blacklid

From what she says, the truck box is still in the truck. Although since it was created by the folks at SPN, they probably also created one just for this episode for the Impala.

[identity profile] wynterwolf47.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
From everything I've seen, it looks awesome. I just need to go through a period of brain adjustment before I can enjoy the eps again. ;-D

Re: Spoilers - you didn't get spoiled by me at all, did you? **worried**

[identity profile] phoenix-rose-up.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
yes yes it does.

Well second viewing was better, but something about it still bugs me... dont really know why. and the midterm was good! thanks for the luck ;)

[identity profile] wynterwolf47.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh! I love thinky-thoughts! Cool!! ;-D And yeah, it would just be SO much easier if we could all just be independently wealthy and not have to work!

[identity profile] anniehow.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Yep, that's probably it. I haven't re-watched the episod, and when the trickster was monologuing I was sort of like Sam, not listening and whimpering "please?". I've seen pointed out around that in Tall Tales we were told that tricksters are invested in keeping the balance between good and evil (asides from dishing out "just deserts"), so that's an interesting twist.

[identity profile] spndpfrdcrck.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
*is drawing a blank* HUG! HUG HUG HUG HUG HUG HUG HUG! ... Yeah that's about all that's sticking with me right now. Too tired to think. *thinks for about 5 minutes* Oh yes. Ok...oh no wait I just forgot...oh right. I was totally prepared to cry during this episode...instead I just laughed my freaking head off. Dean dying is just funny. And the Heat of the Moment. Muwaha (that song is vile, I woke up this morning fully expecting to hear it on the radio...). During the whole Sam is a badass bit I was just in shock, especially when he just stands there and stitches himself up without flinching or anything...it's just...shocking for lack of a better word. I need to watch it again to take it all in...I still need a tivo.

Quick question, in the US they are playing 2 episodes next week (Full night of Supernatural...that still totally doesn't make up for the no reruns). The new one and...I'm not sure which one they are playing before it. Anyway, are they going to do that in Canada as well (I'm assuming not but...never know)?

[identity profile] malevolent73.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
OHMYGOD!!!!!!!!!!!! That's how I got spoiled too! Holy crap that's weird. I'm banning recaps til the summer when I'm bored from now on.

[identity profile] malevolent73.livejournal.com 2008-02-15 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I think weapons holds like the one John (and then Sam) had are easy to get and therefore it was just a comparison about how Sam became an obsessed hunter just like his father. But that it wasn't actually John's weapons hold itself. Ya know?

And as for the rest of your recap, yes, yes, a thousand times I agree. :)

[identity profile] spndpfrdcrck.livejournal.com 2008-02-16 08:43 am (UTC)(link)
Friends? That...is so weird. I found out which episode but my lips are sealed.