Tonight’s Supernatural went fantasy-heavy, just as it did last episode. I mentioned in my last review about my difficulty in buying into that kind of story-telling; it feels just too fantasy-like to really jive with my view of the show. That’s a ridiculous statement and an absurd standard to apply to a show that has dealt with fairies and the Four Horsemen of the freaking apocalypse but here I am.
However, though I’m not really into this particular branch of storytelling choice, I do want to praise Supernatural for a second. In a show such as Supernatural (that is, a network drama with full season episode orders), there is a lot of time and space to fill. Depending on how serialized a show is, you might be able to squeeze ten to fifteen episodes worth of real season-plot, leaving you with seven to twelve episodes of empty time. The conventional wisdom is that you leave the heavy character and plot decisions for those ten to fifteen; whether that is a good thing or not is debatable. So that leaves those Free Parking-esque episodes with quite a dilemma.
What Supernatural chose to do is world build, which is the right answer 100% of the time. They go down alleyways and explore cracks and crevices and niches that other shows haven’t. Supernatural has thousands of years of mythology to both pull from and modify, to tell stories that are as old as time itself. It’s execution can fall flat, of that there is no denying. But at least they tried instead of sticking to the status quo. Four for you, Supernatural.
Now.
Dylan Everett made his return this episode, and man, has he grown as an actor. In his first appearance he had all of the mannerisms of Jensen Ackles’s Dean, but not much else. It was an impressive mimic, and showed work ethic and desire, but not much else. Now, though, it’s clear that I underestimated him. He still had the mannerisms down pat but he was also his own man; his Dean was not a carbon-copy of Ackles and was in, some ways, more interesting. The cake scene, where he just dives into possibly poisoned cake, was brilliant. Instead of veering into camp, as Ackles might’ve done, he plays it a little straighter, and it comes off in a really cool way. So, four for you, Dylan Everett.
I promise that won’t become a thing.
I’m ready for this season to kick off. Things have been a little quiet and I want to see some fireworks. We’ve got too many balls in the air to not be building to something, or at least that’s my hope. With Rowena and Crowley in the mix, plus whatever Cas is doing, plus the Winchesters, they must be ready to really start some stuff. I hope, at least. These past few seasons have been really self-contained in terms of plot in a lot of ways, and I miss the buildup that happened with seasons one through five.
But anyways. Fun episode.
Stray Thoughts
– They did an unusual amount of fleshing out with the side character, Tina. I know she was an important parallel to Dean in this episode but they really went out and gave her personality. She had little repeated mannerisms and all those sorts of things.
– Once again: nice work, Dylan Everett. Really hope we see you again.
– I really hope Dean goes to a dermatologist and he just zaps The Mark off. That would be hilarious.
[Photo via The CW]
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I thought Dylan did an amazing job but WOW what an incredible insult to Jensen Ackles. Jensen helped create and mould Dean over 10 years, he made the character interesting and iconic to begin with, Dylan already had a great character portrayal to mimic thanks to Jensen’s work but one episode persuades you Dylan is a better more interesting Dean than Ackles? because he eats cake in a less campy way? Jensen’s comedic style varies depending on the tone of the episode and it’s worked for 10 seasons, as has his approach to everything Dean’s gone through. I know some reviewers like to stir in a bit of controversy for hits now and then but that’s a low blow.
It wasn’t an insult, though I understand why it might’ve come off that way. I was more commenting on the fact that Everett’s Dean was different and fresh because of his growth as an actor, making it more interesting than how the typical Ackles performance we’ve been watching for over a decade.
Everett’s Dean is not better than Ackles’ Dean, just more interesting in the context of this episode. It was interesting to see a different interpretation. It wasn’t a shot at Ackles, at all.
I do appreciate, though, that you think that I wrote that for “hits”. Glad to know that instead of me expressing an honest opinion that I’m actually trying to stir the pot for page views.
Hmm. I loved that teen Dean loves Taylor Swift! Loved the humor of that episode!
One Direction, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift…all mentioned in one episode, hilarious!