{"id":4570,"date":"2015-04-01T13:00:09","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T20:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4570"},"modified":"2015-03-23T17:00:41","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T00:00:41","slug":"mark-watches-supernatural-s09e07-bad-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/04\/mark-watches-supernatural-s09e07-bad-boys\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Supernatural’: S09E07 – Bad Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the seventh episode of the ninth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, BABY DEAN. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For bullying<\/b>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You know, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bad Boys\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that makes it a bad episode or a poor story. I think a lot of the pieces of a good\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> episode are here: timely flashbacks. Baby!Dean and Baby!Sam. More Winchester history. One hell of a mystery.<\/p>\n

And yet? It feels almost\u00c2\u00a0too<\/i> typical of the show. Nearly everything here is something we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen before in some fashion, so it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come across as anything new. (With one exception, which I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to it.) The placement of it also concerns me because of the implications it might have on future events. If Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time in Sonny\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Home for Boys ended because he felt a duty to protect Sam, is this supposed to provide us context for the eventual reveal of Ezekiel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presence? Sure, Dean was acting in what he saw as Sam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best interest; his intentions were good; he wants his brother to be safe. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t negate the complicated and fucked up situation we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got here. So are we supposed to believe that Dean is just looking out for Sam, like he always has?<\/p>\n

I suppose that this skewed my perception of this episode, and I have no problem admitting that. I thought Timmy was an interesting character, but Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mentoring of him after being bullied felt a whole lot like his interactions with Ben. Now, maybe those scenes were meant to invoke our memory of Dean as a father figure, but what do they mean to the story right\u00c2\u00a0now?\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>How do they contribute to the narrative in season nine? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not quite sure, aside from the continued references to Ezekiel that are made throughout this episode.<\/p>\n

In that sense, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bad Boys\u00e2\u20ac\u009d feels like a Greatest Hits of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, an episode chock full of references and imagery (intentional or not) that bring us back to a point much earlier in this show\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re reminded of what it was like when the Winchesters fought a lot of ghosts, when multiple episodes per season focused on salting the remains of some poor spirit before lighting them on fire. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine with the nostalgia, and I generally enjoy flashback episodes. If anything, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bad Boys\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reminded me just how far these characters have come. (And how terribly alone they are, good god.)<\/p>\n

I think my favorite part of this episode, though, was Sonny.\u00c2\u00a0I wish most of the other characters were written with as much depth as him. Badly-dyed mustache aside, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fascinating character within the\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> world. For Dean, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically Bobby before Bobby ever showed up. He was an undeniable positive force in Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life for those two months, and I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a meaningful thing for him, you know? Sonny taught him a different kind of discipline, one not rooted in hunting. He also deeply, deeply respectful of Dean and Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to make choices for himself, which includes suffering the consequences of those actions. John Winchester was not that affection towards Dean, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even mean that in a physical sense. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a care that Sonny demonstrates for Dean that he was clearly not used to, so I understand why Dean would come running once Sonny asked for help.<\/p>\n

I swear, though, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really have any problems with this episode! It just didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything for me.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bad Boys\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
\n– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running,\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
\n<\/a>– Please check out the\u00c2\u00a0 MarkDoesStuff.com<\/a>. All Mark Watches videos for past shows\/season are now archived there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"