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llywelaOkay, so. Spent most of the weekend asleep, after running a fever all day Friday. Saturday's kind of a blur, actually. Sunday I was fine until mid afternoon, then faded fast. Looked in a mirror and was all, 'hey, where did the colour go?' Made it into work yesterday, exhausted myself, and decided I needed another day indoors in the warm to try to really knock this thing on the head. Not that staying home got me out of working entirely, though, as I've been on call for the new and inexperienced volunteer who was in today, and had a couple of calls requiring talking her through technical difficulties.
Still. In the midst of all this illness, I got some TV watching in. Mostly, this involved many, many hours of Grey's Anatomy season two, discs so kindly donated by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nikkimisplaced. So far? Loving it. Such a soap opera, perfect for curling up in front of while ill. But I've also seen the final episode of Judge John Deed, plus new season two episodes of Supernatural and Rome. Coherent thought has been escaping me for days now, but I shall give it a go!
Judge John Deed, Evidence of Harm, Part Two. Well, so it's all over then. Unless they decided to make another couple of last ever episodes. It didn't feel like a finale. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I was expecting some kind of resolution, whether good or bad. At one point it really looked like John and Jo's careers were both going to self-destruct completely, that that would be the resolution. But that would be a bit grim and downbeat for this show, which does like a happy ending. So, in the end, I think I'm satisfied with the way it played out, in true Judge fashion. John was pig-headed over a controversial case, Jo was pig-headed over the same controversial case, the political bigwigs got their knickers in a knot trying to de-rail John's barely legal actions, John and Jo's 'relationship' such as it is was used against them...but then everything worked out fine in the end, closing on life for the Judge and the people around him continuing pretty much as it always has. At first I was a little dissatisfied, but then I decided that I like it – viewers are free to imagine them all carrying on like this forever more.
Supernatural 2.11 Plaything. We've hit the mid-way point of season two now, and hit it with a much slower offering than we've been used to of late. This wasn't the strongest episode of the season by any means. It was very slow – although it could be considered a welcome relief, both for the boys and for viewers, to have a chance to draw breath – and the pacing didn't flow as well as it could have.
It amuses me that I have some friends telling me they don't like standalone episodes like this, and want mytharc only, and other friends who struggle with the mytharc and prefer standalones. Me, I can take and enjoy either. Best of both worlds.
The boys don't seem quite themselves in this episode – or rather, they seem a bit too much like themselves. It's reminiscent of the early episodes of the season, when both were putting on a big show of normality as they attempted to deal with their father's death. Here, again, they both seem to be putting on a big show of normality for one another's benefit, trying just a bit too hard, but the masks don't quite fit any more, now they both know what lies behind them. And thus a fair bit of the brotherly bantering feels a little forced, as though they are each just playing at the part that's expected of him, rather than behaving naturally.
Similarly, they aren't as thorough at working on the case as we came to expect in season one. Although they make a good show of it, trying to be professional, it never feels like either of them is truly invested in the case for its own sake. Dean is only there because Sam asked him to keep hunting, rather than out of any desire of his own to continue on this path, and although Sam talks a good talk about wanting to save lives, he's still focused on his own issues and agenda rather than being wanting to save those lives for their own sake. And that makes them a little sloppy, with the resolution of the case, in particular. When have we ever seen them leave a job without making absolutely sure that the spirit was completely laid to rest? But here they did – the spirit ended its killing spree of its own accord, and since the family were leaving anyway, they were willing to take the word of a little girl as evidence that the spirit was no longer there, rather than making sure.
I've found the over-reliance on Ellen and the Roadhouse gang for information this season a little frustrating at times, but getting this case from Ellen didn't bother me in this episode. It made sense; I could well imagine Sam, in his frustration, asking her if she had something, anything, for him to do to take his mind off Ava after a month of fruitless searching – looking for a quick fix, rather than taking the time to search out a new case for himself. And Dean's hardly likely to go looking up new hunts just at the moment, having made it clear that he would prefer to take a break and spend some time dealing with the Demon situation. That said, I'd like to think that Ellen is just one of a number of contacts they've been calling in hopes of hearing some news on the grapevine, since they do actually know other people, and not all of John's old contacts died last season.
The gay jokes were also a little overplayed in this episode, although I still take the stance that, as I've said before, the brothers travel to new places all the time, and meet new people in every episode. They are two young men travelling together, working together, staying in hotels together – it is a very true reflection of the times we live in that they would frequently run into the automatic, 'politically correct' assumption that they must therefore be a couple. People these days tend not to even bother remembering that there might be other possible relationships. But having said that, it did feel a little forced in this episode. But maybe that ties in with the rest of the things that felt a little 'off' – add all those small details together, and they could all be done on purpose as subtle indicators of the brothers' state of mind at the moment, striving for normality but not quite achieving it. Off-kilter and struggling to regain balance. Sam teased Dean about 'overcompensating', but it seems to me that both the boys are overcompensating in this episode – their whole involvement in this case is about overcompensation for the things that lie outside of their control and scare them.
I would like to note for the record how well Dean handles both hotel owner Susan and the porter/barman Sherwin when alone with them and just getting on with the job. It's nice when the show acknowledges that he can be good with people when he needs to be; his interpersonal skills tend to be clumsier when he's either trying too hard or can't be bothered, he's fine when he's just getting on with things without over-thinking or distraction.
"You're bossy. And short." Heee. Drunk!Sam is fab, and you just know that when he was a gangly teenager whose latest growth spurt saw him overshooting his brother for the first time, he took any and every opportunity to rub it in. Drunk!Sam is also maudlin, unreasonable and soppy. It's interesting how annoyed Dean was with him for getting drunk while working a job – we've seen Dean drinking many times, far more so than Sam, but we've never seen him drunk. He tends to be such a control-freak about the jobs they work that it figures that getting drunk on duty would be an absolute no-no. He's paranoid about keeping his family safe and not screwing up, and drinking to excess would impair his ability to achieve those aims.
As for the promise Sam manipulates Dean into making…there's a lot I could say about that, too much to go into here. I can see where Sam is coming from, and understand his fear – he's been afraid of what his visions mean for a long time now, and everything he learns seems only to confirm that fear. But putting the full responsibility for his fears onto his brother is a little childish, and Sam talked so much in the past about wanting to be treated as an adult. If he doesn't want the Demon to use him for evil purposes, then it isn't enough to simply beg his brother to look after him and prevent it happening; he has to fight tooth and nail for himself.
Dean's inability to break out of the role the needs of his family have pushed him into over the years is what brought him to the position he now finds himself in, where both John and Sam expect him to do whatever it takes to look after Sam, neither of them stopping to consider that Sam could and should actually be looking out for himself, or that the suffocating weight of expectation has got Dean so completely trapped.
Did Dean only make that promise because he believed Sam wouldn't remember, and would it be better or worse for Dean to know he'd made that promise but Sam not? He's made the same promise to both John and Sam now, and we've already seen that he's spent the entire season living in dread of having to keep it, either not believing he will ever be able to fulfil it, or maybe dreading that he will.
Something of a miracle how quickly Sam got over his hangover, no? Strong constitution that boy must have…;)
Sam saving the little girl from drowning was total Dead in the Water Take Two – same music, same slow-mo effects, same silent screaming of the mother…but not one of them thought to check for a pulse or attempt CPR, so it's probably just as well that the child decided to revive all on her own. :D Sam diving into the water also got me all worried about his cast, which has been through an awful lot in the last six or seven episodes! Also, what's with the almost indestructible glass in that poolhouse? Man, I hope the glazier responsible was well paid for what was clearly a job well done. ;)
Regarding the outcome of the case itself, I thought the Grandma Rose actress was excellent, managing to convey such immense emotion at the same time as also conveying complete stroke-induced incapacitation. And I love that the final scenes between her and Maggie managed to make me care about those two sisters, separated by death and so very many years. That it was Rose who saved the day, rather than the brothers Winchester, does not go unnoticed, and it does bother me that the boys were so content to just let the case go, with the family moving out and the spirit seeming to be dormant once more. They have no way of knowing why it gave up its attack on Tyler, and no way of knowing whether or not it is likely to be stirred up once more when demolition of the hotel begins. But not following through on the case, no salting and burning in sight, is symptomatic of how this case was never actually about the case for either of the boys, the apparently sloppiness of their follow-through indicative of how distracting their larger personal issues really are.
Getting back to the promise Dean made Sam… in Croatoan, Sam was prepared to pull the trigger himself as long as Dean walked away first. Now, though, they both seem resigned to the fact that if one of them goes down in this mysterious apocalyptic war that's approaching, they both will. If the worst ever came to the worst and Sam did turn, there would be no walking away for Dean, there really wouldn't.
What worries me most, when I follow that train of thought to its logical conclusion, is the thought that if the worst did come to the worst, brother against brother, I think Sam would have the advantage. Because if it came down to that it would mean that Sam had turned, that he really had become evil somehow, just as the Demon seems to desire and intend. And Sam has already demonstrated on numerous occasions that he is quite capable of hurting his brother without even noticing – or even knowing full well the effect his actions and words are having but pressing ahead regardless – when he isn't evil. So…Evil Sam? Could do terrible things to Dean and not bat an eyelid. But when Dean looks at Sam all he sees is his baby brother, every time. He's protected Sam his entire life, and even if Sam turned he would still want to find a way of saving him, somehow, of bringing him back from that, before he allowed himself to consider taking him out. And that puts him at a very definite disadvantage should the worst truly come to the worst. It's worrying. Let us live in hope that it never comes to that, however vain that hope may seem.
Full recap to follow shortly.
Rome 2.02 Son of Hades. Well, we all suspected that the little Vorenii would have been sold as slaves rather than murdered, but how nice it was to actually have that confirmed by seeing them in one piece. Just how long it will take for them to be reunited with their father, how bad things will get for them and how dark a road he will travel first…well, that remains to be seen. Vorenus is currently heading down a very dark path indeed, taking over from Erastes Fulmen as the Crime Lord of Rome, with Pullo faithfully – but worriedly – standing by his side. Just how far along this dark road will Pullo be prepared to follow his brother-in-arms before conscience and differing political allegiances start to tear them apart?
Vorenus, Son of Hades? Man. I'm glad that Antony pulled him out of his grievy stupor, because honestly, I'm not sure anyone else could have at that point – and it made me happy to see that old legionary allegiances still hold firm, even now that Antony is Consul and ruling Rome – but taking on the task Antony set him really is indicative of how self-destructive Vorenus is right now. He feels he has nothing left to lose, and that's a dangerous place for him to be in, especially in such turbulent times.
Pullo and Eirene seem happy together, though, which is cute.
Not so happy together are Antony and Atia, whose relationship was, well, difficult at the best of times, what with both of them being so narcissistic and all. Atia made no bones about it – she and her family are completely dependent on Antony's goodwill at the moment, and she is doing everything in her power to retain that goodwill. She always was a good actress. The power-struggle between Antony, with all his experience, soldierly skills and arrogance, and the young and inexperienced but frankly brilliant Octavian…well, that's shaping up to be absolutely fascinating. History dictates that this power-struggle should be the main focus of season two, but that doesn't make the unfolding of it on screen any less compelling. Seeing the network of contacts and allegiances spread out across the various levels of society, with so much plotting and intrigue going on behind closed doors. How can any of these people truly trust anyone else? This is the dilemma that every one of them faces.
I will never not love scenes between Atia and Servilia, all that faux-politeness with daggers hidden behind every word.
Antony's boredom with the tedium of ruling the city was awesome, and so in character. He really doesn't ever change. Cleopatra, though, irritated me as much here as she did in season one. And for all that she said her son was not four years old yet, he looked older than Niobe's son Lucius, who should be several years older, surely. The trials and tribulations of having to cast actors for parts spanning many years, I suppose.
Oh, and Timon has a family now – looks like his character will be expanded upon in episodes to come, now that we've met his wife and children, and that potentially troublesome brother he's got come to stay.
So, roll on episode three!
Still. In the midst of all this illness, I got some TV watching in. Mostly, this involved many, many hours of Grey's Anatomy season two, discs so kindly donated by
nikkimisplaced. So far? Loving it. Such a soap opera, perfect for curling up in front of while ill. But I've also seen the final episode of Judge John Deed, plus new season two episodes of Supernatural and Rome. Coherent thought has been escaping me for days now, but I shall give it a go!Judge John Deed, Evidence of Harm, Part Two. Well, so it's all over then. Unless they decided to make another couple of last ever episodes. It didn't feel like a finale. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. I was expecting some kind of resolution, whether good or bad. At one point it really looked like John and Jo's careers were both going to self-destruct completely, that that would be the resolution. But that would be a bit grim and downbeat for this show, which does like a happy ending. So, in the end, I think I'm satisfied with the way it played out, in true Judge fashion. John was pig-headed over a controversial case, Jo was pig-headed over the same controversial case, the political bigwigs got their knickers in a knot trying to de-rail John's barely legal actions, John and Jo's 'relationship' such as it is was used against them...but then everything worked out fine in the end, closing on life for the Judge and the people around him continuing pretty much as it always has. At first I was a little dissatisfied, but then I decided that I like it – viewers are free to imagine them all carrying on like this forever more.
Supernatural 2.11 Plaything. We've hit the mid-way point of season two now, and hit it with a much slower offering than we've been used to of late. This wasn't the strongest episode of the season by any means. It was very slow – although it could be considered a welcome relief, both for the boys and for viewers, to have a chance to draw breath – and the pacing didn't flow as well as it could have.
It amuses me that I have some friends telling me they don't like standalone episodes like this, and want mytharc only, and other friends who struggle with the mytharc and prefer standalones. Me, I can take and enjoy either. Best of both worlds.
The boys don't seem quite themselves in this episode – or rather, they seem a bit too much like themselves. It's reminiscent of the early episodes of the season, when both were putting on a big show of normality as they attempted to deal with their father's death. Here, again, they both seem to be putting on a big show of normality for one another's benefit, trying just a bit too hard, but the masks don't quite fit any more, now they both know what lies behind them. And thus a fair bit of the brotherly bantering feels a little forced, as though they are each just playing at the part that's expected of him, rather than behaving naturally.
Similarly, they aren't as thorough at working on the case as we came to expect in season one. Although they make a good show of it, trying to be professional, it never feels like either of them is truly invested in the case for its own sake. Dean is only there because Sam asked him to keep hunting, rather than out of any desire of his own to continue on this path, and although Sam talks a good talk about wanting to save lives, he's still focused on his own issues and agenda rather than being wanting to save those lives for their own sake. And that makes them a little sloppy, with the resolution of the case, in particular. When have we ever seen them leave a job without making absolutely sure that the spirit was completely laid to rest? But here they did – the spirit ended its killing spree of its own accord, and since the family were leaving anyway, they were willing to take the word of a little girl as evidence that the spirit was no longer there, rather than making sure.
I've found the over-reliance on Ellen and the Roadhouse gang for information this season a little frustrating at times, but getting this case from Ellen didn't bother me in this episode. It made sense; I could well imagine Sam, in his frustration, asking her if she had something, anything, for him to do to take his mind off Ava after a month of fruitless searching – looking for a quick fix, rather than taking the time to search out a new case for himself. And Dean's hardly likely to go looking up new hunts just at the moment, having made it clear that he would prefer to take a break and spend some time dealing with the Demon situation. That said, I'd like to think that Ellen is just one of a number of contacts they've been calling in hopes of hearing some news on the grapevine, since they do actually know other people, and not all of John's old contacts died last season.
The gay jokes were also a little overplayed in this episode, although I still take the stance that, as I've said before, the brothers travel to new places all the time, and meet new people in every episode. They are two young men travelling together, working together, staying in hotels together – it is a very true reflection of the times we live in that they would frequently run into the automatic, 'politically correct' assumption that they must therefore be a couple. People these days tend not to even bother remembering that there might be other possible relationships. But having said that, it did feel a little forced in this episode. But maybe that ties in with the rest of the things that felt a little 'off' – add all those small details together, and they could all be done on purpose as subtle indicators of the brothers' state of mind at the moment, striving for normality but not quite achieving it. Off-kilter and struggling to regain balance. Sam teased Dean about 'overcompensating', but it seems to me that both the boys are overcompensating in this episode – their whole involvement in this case is about overcompensation for the things that lie outside of their control and scare them.
I would like to note for the record how well Dean handles both hotel owner Susan and the porter/barman Sherwin when alone with them and just getting on with the job. It's nice when the show acknowledges that he can be good with people when he needs to be; his interpersonal skills tend to be clumsier when he's either trying too hard or can't be bothered, he's fine when he's just getting on with things without over-thinking or distraction.
"You're bossy. And short." Heee. Drunk!Sam is fab, and you just know that when he was a gangly teenager whose latest growth spurt saw him overshooting his brother for the first time, he took any and every opportunity to rub it in. Drunk!Sam is also maudlin, unreasonable and soppy. It's interesting how annoyed Dean was with him for getting drunk while working a job – we've seen Dean drinking many times, far more so than Sam, but we've never seen him drunk. He tends to be such a control-freak about the jobs they work that it figures that getting drunk on duty would be an absolute no-no. He's paranoid about keeping his family safe and not screwing up, and drinking to excess would impair his ability to achieve those aims.
As for the promise Sam manipulates Dean into making…there's a lot I could say about that, too much to go into here. I can see where Sam is coming from, and understand his fear – he's been afraid of what his visions mean for a long time now, and everything he learns seems only to confirm that fear. But putting the full responsibility for his fears onto his brother is a little childish, and Sam talked so much in the past about wanting to be treated as an adult. If he doesn't want the Demon to use him for evil purposes, then it isn't enough to simply beg his brother to look after him and prevent it happening; he has to fight tooth and nail for himself.
Dean's inability to break out of the role the needs of his family have pushed him into over the years is what brought him to the position he now finds himself in, where both John and Sam expect him to do whatever it takes to look after Sam, neither of them stopping to consider that Sam could and should actually be looking out for himself, or that the suffocating weight of expectation has got Dean so completely trapped.
Did Dean only make that promise because he believed Sam wouldn't remember, and would it be better or worse for Dean to know he'd made that promise but Sam not? He's made the same promise to both John and Sam now, and we've already seen that he's spent the entire season living in dread of having to keep it, either not believing he will ever be able to fulfil it, or maybe dreading that he will.
Something of a miracle how quickly Sam got over his hangover, no? Strong constitution that boy must have…;)
Sam saving the little girl from drowning was total Dead in the Water Take Two – same music, same slow-mo effects, same silent screaming of the mother…but not one of them thought to check for a pulse or attempt CPR, so it's probably just as well that the child decided to revive all on her own. :D Sam diving into the water also got me all worried about his cast, which has been through an awful lot in the last six or seven episodes! Also, what's with the almost indestructible glass in that poolhouse? Man, I hope the glazier responsible was well paid for what was clearly a job well done. ;)
Regarding the outcome of the case itself, I thought the Grandma Rose actress was excellent, managing to convey such immense emotion at the same time as also conveying complete stroke-induced incapacitation. And I love that the final scenes between her and Maggie managed to make me care about those two sisters, separated by death and so very many years. That it was Rose who saved the day, rather than the brothers Winchester, does not go unnoticed, and it does bother me that the boys were so content to just let the case go, with the family moving out and the spirit seeming to be dormant once more. They have no way of knowing why it gave up its attack on Tyler, and no way of knowing whether or not it is likely to be stirred up once more when demolition of the hotel begins. But not following through on the case, no salting and burning in sight, is symptomatic of how this case was never actually about the case for either of the boys, the apparently sloppiness of their follow-through indicative of how distracting their larger personal issues really are.
Getting back to the promise Dean made Sam… in Croatoan, Sam was prepared to pull the trigger himself as long as Dean walked away first. Now, though, they both seem resigned to the fact that if one of them goes down in this mysterious apocalyptic war that's approaching, they both will. If the worst ever came to the worst and Sam did turn, there would be no walking away for Dean, there really wouldn't.
What worries me most, when I follow that train of thought to its logical conclusion, is the thought that if the worst did come to the worst, brother against brother, I think Sam would have the advantage. Because if it came down to that it would mean that Sam had turned, that he really had become evil somehow, just as the Demon seems to desire and intend. And Sam has already demonstrated on numerous occasions that he is quite capable of hurting his brother without even noticing – or even knowing full well the effect his actions and words are having but pressing ahead regardless – when he isn't evil. So…Evil Sam? Could do terrible things to Dean and not bat an eyelid. But when Dean looks at Sam all he sees is his baby brother, every time. He's protected Sam his entire life, and even if Sam turned he would still want to find a way of saving him, somehow, of bringing him back from that, before he allowed himself to consider taking him out. And that puts him at a very definite disadvantage should the worst truly come to the worst. It's worrying. Let us live in hope that it never comes to that, however vain that hope may seem.
Full recap to follow shortly.
Rome 2.02 Son of Hades. Well, we all suspected that the little Vorenii would have been sold as slaves rather than murdered, but how nice it was to actually have that confirmed by seeing them in one piece. Just how long it will take for them to be reunited with their father, how bad things will get for them and how dark a road he will travel first…well, that remains to be seen. Vorenus is currently heading down a very dark path indeed, taking over from Erastes Fulmen as the Crime Lord of Rome, with Pullo faithfully – but worriedly – standing by his side. Just how far along this dark road will Pullo be prepared to follow his brother-in-arms before conscience and differing political allegiances start to tear them apart?
Vorenus, Son of Hades? Man. I'm glad that Antony pulled him out of his grievy stupor, because honestly, I'm not sure anyone else could have at that point – and it made me happy to see that old legionary allegiances still hold firm, even now that Antony is Consul and ruling Rome – but taking on the task Antony set him really is indicative of how self-destructive Vorenus is right now. He feels he has nothing left to lose, and that's a dangerous place for him to be in, especially in such turbulent times.
Pullo and Eirene seem happy together, though, which is cute.
Not so happy together are Antony and Atia, whose relationship was, well, difficult at the best of times, what with both of them being so narcissistic and all. Atia made no bones about it – she and her family are completely dependent on Antony's goodwill at the moment, and she is doing everything in her power to retain that goodwill. She always was a good actress. The power-struggle between Antony, with all his experience, soldierly skills and arrogance, and the young and inexperienced but frankly brilliant Octavian…well, that's shaping up to be absolutely fascinating. History dictates that this power-struggle should be the main focus of season two, but that doesn't make the unfolding of it on screen any less compelling. Seeing the network of contacts and allegiances spread out across the various levels of society, with so much plotting and intrigue going on behind closed doors. How can any of these people truly trust anyone else? This is the dilemma that every one of them faces.
I will never not love scenes between Atia and Servilia, all that faux-politeness with daggers hidden behind every word.
Antony's boredom with the tedium of ruling the city was awesome, and so in character. He really doesn't ever change. Cleopatra, though, irritated me as much here as she did in season one. And for all that she said her son was not four years old yet, he looked older than Niobe's son Lucius, who should be several years older, surely. The trials and tribulations of having to cast actors for parts spanning many years, I suppose.
Oh, and Timon has a family now – looks like his character will be expanded upon in episodes to come, now that we've met his wife and children, and that potentially troublesome brother he's got come to stay.
So, roll on episode three!
