In the eighteenth episode of the eighth season of Supernatural, Dean and Sam must work with a surreal group of hunters: a bunch of teenagers under direction from a father figure. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.Â
You know, this episode got me wondering: Could you ever be a hunter and live a life that’s not like the one we’ve seen for hunters? That’s the central question at the heart of “Freaks and Geeks,†and if Victor Rogers weren’t HUMAN GARBAGE, I actually think that it might have been possible. Unfortunately, the one example we get of people trying to build some sort of life around hunting is ACTUAL ENDLESS TRAGEDY. The more I think about what Victor Rogers did… goddamn, y’all, what an awful human being.
The Family
I think it’s important to note that one of the more horrific aspects of what happens here is that Victor Rogers exploited one of the things that’s deeply important to the Winchesters: family. The scenes we get of Victor managing the lives of Krissy, Aiden, and Josephine are tender. They’re loving. They’re normal. And, unsurprisingly, Dean does not waste any time being suspicious of the whole arrangement. Who can blame him? This is not the world he understands. There’s no desperation here; there’s no sadness, no loneliness, no apathy. These four people care about one another, which is common of hunters, but this is what their lives look like? How is Dean supposed to believe this is possible? He doesn’t.
So I believe that the Winchester brother’s reactions to this arrangement is a pretty good read on their current state. Sam is more likely to believe that this sort of thing can be a reality because he just recently went through an experience that reminds him of this. Would Sam have been so amenable to this if he’d not spent nearly a year with Amelia? I don’t think so. So why is Dean so hesitant to allow these kids to keep hunting?
Dean!
Let me talk more about Dean in this episode specifically, since his role is the bigger focus in the story. I do love the rapport between him and Krissy, and I was glad that this episode changed that dynamic slightly. There’s not so much of the True Grit vibe to this episode because Krissy is far more antagonistic towards Dean. Part of that is because she’s still hurting from the death of her father, or at least that’s what I imagine. After this important person in her life is killed, she becomes so fascinated with revenge that it becomes a need. WHO DOES THIS SOUND LIKE? Okay, while there are similarities between Krissy’s drive and Dean, I think this episode does a fine job establishing that over the course of eight seasons, Dean is no longer the same person he was at the beginning of this series. (At least in this context. In terms of his relationship with Sam? Lord, he’s still afraid to talk about feelings because he finds them icky. Sigh.) Hunting is not just about the kill. And you know, I don’t want to simplify Dean’s development so that it sounds like all he ever wanted to do was kill. But would the Dean from earlier seasons have wanted to spare a vampire’s life? Would the Dean fresh out of purgatory have expressed reluctance to get revenge?
I don’t think that’s the case. I mentioned on video that this story seemed like it would have normally been given to Sam, and I found it rewarding in this case that Dean was the one urging for reticence and careful thought. His interactions with Krissy reminded me a lot of how Sam used to speak to Dean. OH, HOW THE TURN TABLES. I love role reversals, y’all! And there’s a lot of them in this episode.
Season Eight
This is a weird season, y’all. I don’t know, I’ve never had much need to comment on the whole season of Supernatural while I was in the midst of it until now, but I can’t shake this sensation that this show feels really bizarre during this season. There have been some great episodes along the way – I will live and breath for “LARP and the Real Girl†– but most of it is kind of sluggish. I was totally into the trio of teenage hunters, and I’m gonna need the CW to develop that show so I can watch it forever, but I’m still at a point where I feel like the non-mythology episodes in season eight just… happen. They’re there, and they’re not as exciting as the ones that address this season’s arc. That hasn’t always been the case for me, and I think it’s because these monster-of-the-week cases don’t feel tied to a greater story. Sure, there’s a moment at the end of the episode where Dean talks about the Gates of Hall, but it honestly just feels tacked on to address the issue, not to make it flow seamlessly into the narrative of “Freaks and Geeks.â€
Despite that I told many people not to tell me anything about this show, I was kind of shocked how many people told me to stop watching it at the end of season five. Hell, once I got to “Swan Song,†people felt the need to tell me that I was going to hate everything that came after it. (Which… no. Charlie. CHARLIE. How dare you.) I kept waiting for the show to get to this alleged awfulness, and it didn’t really come. But now, in the last half of this season, I feel like the show has lost its spark, but only when we’re not dealing with Crowley, Naomi, and the Trials. THOSE episodes are genuinely entertaining, but there seem to be so few of them this time around. I’m hoping that this season ends a lot better than it’s started, though. WHAT IS THE NEXT TRIAL? I need to know things!!!
The video for “Freaks and Geeks†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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