Supernatural 9.02 Review: It's All About Family

For anyone that has yet to watch last night’s episode of Supernatural, titled ‘Devil May Care’, I suggest you do so now. This is not, and will likely never be, a spoiler free blog. THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

Maybe it’s because I went into this episode not wanting to watch it all that much, but it actually wasn’t all that bad. Sure, it’s no early season Supernatural, but I am glad that the Winchester brothers are finally back to a place where it’s about family first – and that includes the people they’ve brought in as family. Which is why I absolutely adored the speech Dean made near the end of the episode to Kevin. They’re family, and that’s all they’ve got. Sure, they’re in a field of work that’s dangerous, they’re sacrificing a bit of themselves daily, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be there for each other as much as possible. They have each other’s backs, that’s really what the message of the show has become.

That’s not to say that I don’t miss the old days of the series, where the boys would travel to a town to solve a monster problem, meeting new folks that would reflect their own lives. These episodes they travel too much in one episode, only really meet new people every so often, and have it a little too easy with the Men of Letters bunker. Sure I like that they have access to all this knowledge, but it used to be their dad’s book, and Sam’s laptop, and then researching in the town’s library or something, now it’s too easy. But I suppose it’s too much to ask to go back to the days of the series that were better.

Another thing, Abbadon is so much better than Crowley as a big evil. While I prefer monsters over the focus of angels and demons, I’m curious to know the whole situation with the Knights of Hell. Where did all the other ones go? Obviously there’s some way to kill them. Still, the Mother of All was a better foe; it was stupid of the writers to kill her off after only a few episodes, in preference of Crowley.

As always, there were some funny moments to episode. Any time Dean speaks sarcastically to a villain when he’s in peril, it’s hilarious. Kevin can also be pretty damn funny at times, like with the military lady in this one. And then there was that moment in the beginning of the episode, after Crowley says hello, and Dean just hits him. The face he gave was spectacular.

Basically, this series is no where near as good as it was in its first few seasons, even as far as the fifth season when Kripke made his farewell as showrunner, but it still has its moments. I will always love Dean, and the brotherly relationship between Sam and him. But they don’t have as much humour between each other anymore, and they don’t do the ‘Bitch’ ‘Jerk’ thing anymore. So, I’ll keep saying it, this series needs to come to an end soon, please don’t run it further into the ground.

My rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Best Lines:

“Then we all go out for ice cream and strippers.” – Dean says.

“Cause I’m Kevin fricken Solo.” – Kevin tells the military woman.

“We gonna fight, or make out? Cause I’m getting some real mixed signals here.” – Dean remarks to Abbadon.

“Hey, look, Zeke – I’m gonna call you Zeke.” – Dean tells the angel Ezekiel.

“Oh, and uh, I’m awesome, so there’s that.” – Dean informs Sam.

Okay, folks, I’m off to go shower, but check back in about an hour and a half for my review of The Originals. Stay tuned.

Bones 9.02 Review: Murder at the Couples Retreat

I’d like to take this time to let anyone that has yet to watch last nights episode of Bones, titled ‘The Cheat in the Retreat’, know that if you plan to watch it spoiler free, now would be the time to turn away from this review. THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS! You’ve been warned.

All right, forgoing the recap for the last episode, being that I reviewed it last week, I’ll jump right into the review. I have to say that I substantially enjoyed this undercover episode a great deal more than the last one. Maybe because Tony and Roxy are a tad bit more interesting, with their flavourful accents and such, or maybe because this episode was about going into a couples retreat, rather than that terrible dance competition. Either way, this was much more interesting.

Does anyone get the feeling that this show sometimes likes to talk down to its audience? Well, maybe not so much talk down to, but trying to be educational, in teaching us some of these terms that have to do with forensics and anthropology, that it’s almost like I’m watching Bill Nye the Science Guy (and let me tell you I hated that guy as a kid)? What I’m trying to say is, the way – especially Cam – the characters speak sometimes, it’s like this show is on the discovery kids channel, teaching us about forensics and how to pick things up. I get trying to educate your audience, but I watch Grey’s Anatomy and the way they speak doesn’t come across patronizing. People are smarter than some give them credit for, I’d appreciate just being able to pick up things myself as the show goes on, not be talked down to.

Okay, I get the whole not being able to let racism go, and that identity fraud can be a big issue, but in the beginning of the episode it was almost like it was providing a public service announcement, rather than actually delving into something that could happen to anyone not careful (the not careful part in reference to identity fraud only, not racism). I do think the rest of the episode, and Cam’s deepening emotions about it, provided more depth, but in the beginning it could’ve been handled a little better. Also, when it comes to credit card companies, I’ve known people who’ve found charges that weren’t their own, and when they spoke to the credit card company they weren’t the ones held accountable for it. I don’t see how Cam would need definitive proof that it wasn’t her. And wouldn’t there be proof in the very fact they weren’t her usual charges? And how would it have taken her that long to catch it?

While I love this show a great deal, I do find it has some issues. I do think that things had already seemed to go back to normal way too easily for Booth, aside from Angela. She was the highlight of the episode in bringing this show tied into the last episode. Otherwise it would’ve felt like no big deal. I do still wish they had prolonged resolving the issue in the last episode just one more episode, and then pushed this to episode three.

This show is definitely a lighter noted series. Sure, it deals with gruesome murders at times, but it’s still kept on a light note. I do think it only seems to dip its toes into the deep end spectrum of emotions, and then almost bring it back around to the comedic aspect of the show. Balancing deep, honest emotions, and comedy, and horror, can be a difficult thing to grasp, and I don’t think this show always does that so well, but it doesn’t keep me from enjoying it.

My last issue with this episode was with Sweets. I definitely enjoyed the way the actor played him like he was starting to get a little nutty, but I don’t quite understand why it took until this episode for him to go that way about his profiles being abused by Pelant. I can’t seem to grasp the idea that that wouldn’t have caught up with him at the very least in the last episode, but it seemed to just now to pop up. He’s lost his mojo, and I can understand that happening, but why now?

My rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Best Lines:

“Feces! It’s your lucky day bugboy.” – Booth to Hodgins, after he’d gotten excited about bobcat excrement being found on their feeding grounds if your lucky, and it ends up falling on his face.

“Wait, those are my noodles.” – Sweets, beginning to lose his way.

“They’re mine now.” – Booth, after taking the noodles.

“I’m not an expert… on everything.” – Hodgins, a bit of a healthy dose of full of himself.

That’s all for now, check back in an hour or so for my review of Sleepy Hollow, and then after that The Blacklist. Later on tonight it’s New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Trophy Wife, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

How I Met Your Mother 9.01 and 9.02 Review: The Beginning of the Longest Wedding Weekend Ever

For all those of you that have yet to watch the first two episodes of How I Met Your Mother that premiered almost six hours ago consecutively, titled ‘The Locket’ and ‘Coming Back’ respectively, please divert your eyes now. As with all my previous reviews, there may be spoilers. Again, THIS BLOG REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS AHEAD! You’ve been warned.

Despite this being a review of two episodes, I’m going to keep it short. One, because I find it more difficult to review sitcoms in great detail, and two, because I don’t think I have much to review in this series. Now let’s get to what you came here for.

Regardless of the fact the show creators, that have obviously been there from the beginning and nursed this series to the point it’s gotten to, have stated this final season of the show will be wrapped up in Barney and Robin’s wedding, and after having watched the first two episodes, I’m not as excited about it. I’ve given them an hour of my time to demonstrate that this will be good idea, and from a writers standpoint, I can understand the logistics behind that idea, but I just don’t feel as much pizzazz in the show that it used to have. I’m still feeling as though this season will disappoint. I know that a lot of the core characters were separated, and we had to see them come together, but that was done in one episode. I can’t see an extreme amount of things interestingly happening over the next fifty-fourish hours. I’m desperately hoping the writers can change my mind over the course of the season, although let’s hope it doesn’t take them too long.

My other only real problem with these two episodes is the whole nonchalant way in which they approached the whole James cheating thing. This man loved his husband, they adopted two kids together, they’ve been together how many years, and he just cheats on him? And then expects that not to be a despicable way to get out of a marriage? Couldn’t he have just worked on his marriage, without having to go chase tale somewhere else? If he was so unhappy in a monogamous relationship, why didn’t he just get out? As someone who’s known someone close to me to be cheated on, I can only help but dislike James immediately. There’s no good reason to cheat. I know this is a sitcom, but does he know the trust he broke with his husband? And the ramifications of that man not being able to trust another man anytime soon? Honestly, couldn’t the writers have come up with a better reason to have them divorce? His two kids, when they grow to find out why they’re daddies aren’t together, will only despise him for it, at least for a time. I don’t think that’s right to them.

One final side note before I get too blown up about the whole cheating element and sign off with my favourite lines, was anyone else a little bored by the Marshall storyline? I just thought it was a little tedious, and maybe overdone. I get that he’s from Minnesota, but the niceness is a little boring.

My rating for the two-episode hitter: 2.5 out of 5.

Best Lines:

“Pick it up, grandma.” – Lilly to Ted after she finds him driving 40 in a 65 zone and lays into the horn.

“They are Canuckin nuts.” – Robin, telling Barney about her relatives.

Alright, I think I’m going to have to call that it for tonight. I’m exhausted, and my brain is so not going to let me review anymore until tomorrow. So check back then to see my reviews of Bones, Sleepy Hollow, and The Blacklist. And tomorrow night, check back for reviews of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Agents of Shield, New Girl, and Trophy Wife, and possibly Lucky 7, if I don’t just decide to scrap that altogether.