{"id":4454,"date":"2015-02-18T13:00:16","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T21:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4454"},"modified":"2015-01-30T15:11:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T23:11:00","slug":"mark-watches-supernatural-s08e16-remember-the-titans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/02\/mark-watches-supernatural-s08e16-remember-the-titans\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Supernatural’: S08E16 – Remember the Titans"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the sixteenth episode of the eighth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, Sam and Dean try to help a man who dies once a day, only to be revived, solve the mystery of his curse. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Well, that was a neat episode, and it certainly helped that it came after\u00c2\u00a0the thing<\/i>. But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strongest entry in terms of non-mythology episodes. The idea is intriguing, the mystery was fun to try to figure out, but like a few of the stories this season, I got the sensation that the show was, once again, putting the Winchesters through the motions. Even when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got scenes meant for introspection on the Winchester journey, they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel as powerful as they could.<\/p>\n

Which is a shame, because these two brothers certainly know a thing or two about futility, death, and rebirth. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s their whole story! And while there are moments within \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Remember the Titans\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that are meant to make the audience ponder the parallel between these characters and Prometheus, they are few and far between, not enough to give this episode the kind of emotional impact a lot of the non-mythology episodes usually have.<\/p>\n

I suppose it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also hard to suspend my disbelief in order to fully immerse myself in this concept. The idea that Prometheus is still alive, suffering Zeus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s curse in the modern day, is intriguing. I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t deny that! And yet, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a real sense that the Greek gods present in this episode are part of some epic struggle. Admittedly, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an incredible hard thing to convey within this context. But it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help that the actors cast for Artemis and Prometheus seem so young and so up-to-date on current fashion. I could buy that for Artemis, but Prometheus? This episode asks us to believe that this man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s memory is in shambles due to his experience; he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s died so many times and suffered such trauma that he can barely remember who he is or where he came from. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re so vague in his mind that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s adopted an identity \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Shane \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only a few years old. Given that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thousands upon thousands of years old, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a relatively short time to be Shane. Just seven years, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, at the least! And yet, he remembers to shave. He wears clothing that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s utterly appropriate for 2013, so much so that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s indistinguishable from the general populace. Where\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the exhaustion? Why does he look like a J. Crew model?<\/p>\n

Like I said, I can buy Artemis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization. (So much so that I really wish I had more of her.) But Zeus doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, the king of the Greek gods. He feels like a slimy businessman. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not to criticize Jim Novak\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performance, as I think he does a splendid job with the lines he was given. But the script doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t convey that sense of grandeur that I felt\u00c2\u00a0should<\/i> come along with Zeus. I\u00c2\u00a0do<\/i> think the show does a decent job portraying his cruelty, particularly with his treatment of Oliver. But I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I\u00c2\u00a0cared<\/i> about any of these characters once the episode ended. Prometheus died in order to kill Zeus, so that was sad and a little bit relieving. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a terribly exciting resolution, you know?<\/p>\n

And I get that Prometheus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sacrifice caused Sam to rethink his role in the Trials. Given that his body is physically reacting to the first Trial (WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT ABOUT), it makes sense that Sam would be disturbing by Prometheus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death. What if this\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i> what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s setting himself up for? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say my favorite part of this episode is Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s prayer to Castiel, who is probably off being Naomi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s agent. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an intimate scene, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not lost on me that we get something like this while Dean is in his first bedroom\u00c2\u00a0ever<\/i>. In that moment, Dean seems so desperate that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost childlike in his innocence. I know that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a weird thing to say about Dean, since he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most cynical person on this show. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s through this that show invokes a dynamic I felt like we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seen since early in the show: Dean being Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big brother and wanting the best for him. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a pure scene, and of course, that means IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S NOT AT ALL FAIR.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Remember the Titans\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

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