SPN Ep: Blade Runners

[the_other_sandy]

Long time, no see. This ep was preempted by election coverage when it first aired here, and instead of running it on Saturday like usual, WGN decided to run it at some ridiculous hour in the middle of a weeknight that I couldn't stay up for because I start work at 7:30 in the morning.

And then my givadam broke, which has never happened in 9 seasons. There have been episodes I haven't really wanted to watch, but I still watched them. I just couldn't seem to motivate myself to watch this one. I buckled down and made myself watch it today just so I wouldn't get further behind. I realize nobody is interested in discussing this episode almost a month later, but I figured I'd throw a post in just to keep the set complete.

And one of the reasons I had such a hard time motivating myself to watch this episode was because I didn't want to be subjected to Snooki (sorry, Nicole) and Crowley in the same episode. Crowley has been reduced to such a one-note character you can make a drinking game out of him. Crowley calls Sam "Moose", do a shot. Crowley strokes his own ego with a lengthy catalog of all the ways he thinks he's awesome, do a shot. Crowley screws the Winchesters over at the end of the episode and gets away with it because for some reason they never see it coming even after all the previous times he's screwed them over, do a shot. And, Dean, who would have thought human Crowley would be a douche too? You mean besides everyone who ever met him?

At least Snooki's Nicole's scene was very brief, and it was a cute idea to have her play herself as a crossroads demon, even if she isn't really a good enough actress to have made that scene as much fun as it could have been. I do give her full credit for having enough of a sense of humor about herself to play the part, though.

I might have watched this episode sooner if I'd known there would be a Stargate Atlantis reunion of sorts with Dean Marshall (formerly Sgt. Bates) and Kavan Smith (formerly Maj. Lorne). Too bad they didn't have any scenes together. This is the second episode I know of that's featured two former SGA cast members. The other was "Time Is On My Side" (the Doc Benton episode), and Kavan Smith got killed in that one too. He should probably stop appearing on this show. ;-)

I'm not sure what to say about the plot stuff, because we've seen it all before. A demon (Crowley) addicted to human blood is not exactly a wild departure from a human (Sam) addicted to demon blood. And Dean being influenced by the combination of the Mark of Cain and the First Blade is also not a huge departure from Sam under the influence of the demon blood. In fact, Castiel also had an arc about how easy it is to step off the right path while acting with the best of intentions. It's all so obvious that it seems unnatural that none of the characters are bringing it up themselves, like they don't remember things that have previously happened to them.

And if you want to watch another episode where a ruthless collector adds a living being to his collection of rare treasures, I can highly recommend one of my favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, "The Most Toys", in which collector Kivas Fajo tries to add Data to his collection. Holy crap, that episode was well done.

Comments

[just-ruth.livejournal.com]

I commented that I found the influence of the First Blade on Dean reminiscent of Michael Moorcock's Elric and Mournbringer series.

And nobody knew what I was talking about

I'm too old for this fandom anymore.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

Darn, I knew I meant to say something about that. When Dean was struggling with the First Blade, I flashed back to that scene (I don't remember which book) when Stormbringer literally dragged Elric across a courtyard to plunge itself into his cousin.

[just-ruth.livejournal.com]

Yes! And how Elric can feel the sword starting to change him - but he's trapped because of how much he needs it. I saw that when Dean was staring at himself in the mirror.

[viridian5.livejournal.com]

It's all so obvious that it seems unnatural that none of the characters are bringing it up themselves, like they don't remember things that have previously happened to them.

That is the massive problem I have with the show in its latter seasons: History repeating (with a tiny twist) with none of the Winchesters ever noticing or learning.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

It's the not learning that bothers me the most. The whole 'not learning from previous experience' thing has really stunted their character growth in my opinion.