{"id":4469,"date":"2015-02-24T13:00:24","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T21:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4469"},"modified":"2015-02-02T15:56:05","modified_gmt":"2015-02-02T23:56:05","slug":"mark-watches-supernatural-s08e18-freaks-and-geeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/02\/mark-watches-supernatural-s08e18-freaks-and-geeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘Supernatural’: S08E18 – Freaks and Geeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighteenth episode of the eighth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, Dean and Sam must work with a surreal group of hunters: a bunch of teenagers under direction from a father figure. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

You know, this episode got me wondering:\u00c2\u00a0Could<\/i> you ever be a hunter and live a life that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like the one we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen for hunters? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the central question at the heart of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Freaks and Geeks,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and if Victor Rogers weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t HUMAN GARBAGE, I actually think that it\u00c2\u00a0might<\/i> 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\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 goddamn, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, what an\u00c2\u00a0awful<\/i> human being.<\/p>\n

The Family<\/b><\/p>\n

I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to note that one of the more horrific aspects of what happens here is that Victor Rogers exploited one of the things that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s deeply important to the Winchesters: family. The scenes we get of Victor managing the lives of Krissy, Aiden, and Josephine are tender. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re loving. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re\u00c2\u00a0normal<\/i>. 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no desperation here; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no sadness, no loneliness, no apathy. These four people care about one another, which is common of hunters, but\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i> is what their lives look like? How is Dean supposed to believe this is possible? He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n

So I believe that the Winchester brother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not spent nearly a year with Amelia? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think so. So why is Dean so hesitant to allow these kids to keep hunting?<\/p>\n

Dean!<\/b><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not so much of the\u00c2\u00a0True Grit<\/i> vibe to this episode because Krissy is far more antagonistic towards Dean. Part of that is because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still hurting from the death of her father, or at least that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still afraid to talk about feelings because he finds them\u00c2\u00a0icky<\/i>. Sigh.) Hunting is not just about the kill. And you know, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to simplify Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life? Would the Dean fresh out of purgatory have expressed reluctance to get revenge?<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00c2\u00a0lot<\/i> of how Sam used to speak to Dean. OH, HOW THE TURN TABLES. I love role reversals, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! And there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of them in this episode.<\/p>\n

Season Eight<\/b><\/p>\n

This is a weird season, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never had much need to comment on the whole season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> while I was in the midst of it until now, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t shake this sensation that this show feels really bizarre during this season. There have been some great episodes along the way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I will live and breath for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153LARP and the Real Girl\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but most of it is kind of sluggish. I was totally into the trio of teenage hunters, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna need the CW to develop that show so I can watch it forever, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still at a point where I feel like the non-mythology episodes in season eight just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 happen. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re there, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not as exciting as the ones that address this season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arc. That hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always been the case for me, and I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because these monster-of-the-week cases don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel tied to a greater story. Sure, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Freaks and Geeks.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

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 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Swan Song,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d people felt the need to tell me that I was going to hate everything that came after it. (Which\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 no. Charlie. CHARLIE. How dare you.) I kept waiting for the show to get to this alleged awfulness, and it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really come. But now, in the last half of this season, I feel like the show has lost its spark, but only when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping that this season ends a lot better than it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s started, though. WHAT IS THE NEXT TRIAL? I need to know things!!!<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Freaks and Geeks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

– Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS.
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