Friday, April 24, 2009

"Jump the Shark" episode recap

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!!!

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Wellll, just GREAT. Tonight’s the night to do the recap and my TIVO decided the first 6 minutes weren’t IMPORTANT!!!! Actually, I think it’s the network. 6 minuters of recorded static. Still, GRRRR. Anyway, I came in when Dean pulled a gun on the kid, John’s son, under the table.

Wow, Dean is defensive. Poor Dean. What a shock to hear that John took such interest in this kid, that he taught him to drive the Impala, that he took him to a baseball game. The kid (still don’t know his name) got the normal life Sam and Dean never did.

And now Sam and Dean have to help him find his mom.

What terribly Photoshopped pictures! It looks like John still had a relationship with this boy’s mother. Is that why the kid called John for help? How much younger is this boy than our boys? If John passed through the town in 1990, he’s about 9 years younger than Sam. So John didn’t learn about him until Sam was in college. (I’m thinking about Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s own secret baby, too.)

ALWAYS with the scissors, Dean! But Sam would have never fit in that vent. (According to my brother, all that crawling around would be impossible.) And ew!!! All that blood and bits. Is this a shapeshifter?

Now it’s time to take the kid’s innocence. Sam insists the kid needs to know. He’s a bit trusting, though, taking it all in, accepting. This should have been a clue to me. Hey, there’s the journal. Haven’t seen that in awhile.

Ah, Adam. That’s his name. I should have remembered from the previews. And he’s pre-med, smart like Sam.

Sam needs to trim those 70s sideburns, do ya think? And stop pointing the gun at Adam when he should be teaching gun safety?

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Dean’s touring the mausoleum, but I don’t think I know why. Is this a new body snatching or is he looking into John’s old case? Blast you, local CW! Love the mortician’s line: “Have you thought about where you’d like to spend eternity?”
And Dean’s response: “All the damn time.”

I bet.

So, graverobbers took corpses and opened them up. YUM.

So Dean goes into a bar and gives off a law and order vibe. There’s a joke.

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It seems Joe the bartender worked the missing body case back in the day, and assured the locals they’d taken care of the culprit. Hm. And now the body-snatching creature wants Adam? And Sam is willing to use Adam as bait. Remember when Sam didn’t want to use the kid as bait in “Something Wicked This Way Comes?”

Sam is way hot shooting a gun, and also smiling proudly. Looks like he enjoys being the big brother for a change, having someone looking up to him the way he looked up to Dean.

Wow, Sam is telling the kid to cut off his life from friends, just like Dean told him in Season One, the first shapeshifter episode. Dean calls him on being like Dad, but Sam understands John’s attitude, now. He thinks whatever’s coming may be after revenge, but other creatures are out there who will want revenge against John and whoever John loved. Adam is meat if he’s not trained. Dean declares it’s too late for him and Sam, but Adam still has a chance to be normal. The brothers each wonder if the other is jealous of Adam’s innocence.

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Here goes Dean, crawling through another tunnel. It’s gotta be a shapeshifter. Oh, YUCK, Sloppy Joe. Classic Dean.

And now, poor Dean, trapped in a crypt. I’m feeling a little breathless here. And of course he has to check out the coffin, which contains a blonde woman.

Hey, Mama’s home, and has gotten into the house that Sam thought he’d secured. Sam tries to drag the kid away from what he’s sure is not human. The kid gets the gun from Sam and his expression changes from confusion to wicked glee when he tells Sam he knows she’s not human, and plows the butt of the gun into Sam’s face, just as Dean opens another coffin to reveal the dead and mutilated body of….Adam.

Whoa. I bow to Kripke. Did NOT see that coming. (And I know I said that in my last review, but DAMN.)

And now Dean is desperate to get to Sam, who was so trusting with this kid.

What are these creatures, and what are they going to do to Sam? Hey, at least he’s not pinned to the wall.

Ah, ghouls. That’s new and unexpected.

Okay, I’m a bit jealous of the mama biting on Sam’s ear.

So Sam and Dean didn’t get the ghouls because of the fresh kills. Ghouls are usually scavengers, and they take on the forms of the last thing they ate, as well as thoughts and memories. “We are what we eat,” Mama Ghoul says.

I’m GROSSING out, the way they’re tasting Sam. Apparently John killed their daddy, who never hurt anyone alive (just ate dead bodies) but why did they wait so long to get back at him? It took 20 years to figure out revenge?

OMG, Sam is bleeding out! And what scars he’s going to have….all kinds. Dean busts out of the crypt (that has a stained glass ceiling? But is underground?) Why didn’t Dean shoot the kid in the head as soon as he was done with Mama Ghoul? That’s unlike him. Maybe if he’d aimed, and hesitated because he’d be killing his brother’s likeness, but no. He doesn’t even look at Adam, instead going straight for Sam, only to be attacked from behind. Dean comes out on top, but did go a little overboard on the beating in the head of the Adam ghoul. Ick. Why don’t they put tourniquets on Sam?

So the boys stand once again at a funeral pyre. What does Dean mean about Adam going out like a hunter? Just because the kid was killed by a ghoul doesn’t mean anything, right? Dean points out that Sam is more like John than Dean will ever be. Sam takes that as a compliment (!!) and Dean tells him to take it however he wants it. I don’t think Dean meant it as such.

Trish is here with me, and we’re puzzling over the purpose of this episode. What was the point? How did it move the story forward? Just to redeem John’s decisions to make his sons into hunters so they could defend themselves?

The dh asked why we’re surprised John had only one son we don’t know about. But in “Home,” John still wore his wedding ring. Being involved with a man like that would be weird, right?

So what do you think? Was this an important episode? Did it teach us anything new? Is it one you’ll watch over and over?

9 comments:

Amie Stuart said...

Hmmm I LOVED This episode for the writing, the role reversal that seems to be happening, the Angsty Sam and Solemn, steady, almost "do the right thing" Dean (ALMOST! LOL). In that regard it all feels very real--Dean would be solemn after his time in Hell and Sam, well Sam seems to be digging a bit of an evil hole for himself with the whole blood drinking from demongirl thing and using his powers. Sam's going rebel on us (awwwwwwwww!!)

Otherwise I was SO DISAPPOINTED in this episode. I really thought the guys were going to have a new family member to join them and actually thought it would have been kinda cool.

MAYBE (one of) the point(s) of this episode was to really highlight how the brothers have changed? Not sure but it kinda broke my heart a little.

Anonymous said...

Great write up, Mary. I'm curious, do you actually do these real time?

I enjoyed this episode and do think it showed how the boys have reversed roles and changed, but otherwise I agree that it did not move the story forward.

How fun that you and Trish got to watch it together! Wish we could all do that for the finale.

And I could not watch all that bleeding. Ack.

I liked the kid far more than I expected to. I was resistance to the idea of a new Winchester, but they did a great job of making him fit in and likeable.

MJFredrick said...

No, I'm glad the brother died. Now, how this will affect them in the long run....that should be interesting. I don't think they could have taken Adam along with them, and they never did get back to the Roadhouse when that was mean to be their home base.

Terri, yes, I do them in real time. I'm TOAST on Thursday nights, so I watch and write so I don't have to stay up too late. I didn't rewind much in this episode, since Trish was watching, too, but I did go back to the scene where Sam talked about not wanting Adam to be meat, once I was done watching, and watched the end again.

I was also resistant to the idea of a new Winchester and the kid was okay. Wish I could have seen the reveal, though. Surely it will be online somewhere soon, right?

Anonymous said...

I hear you on the staying up too late! Last new episode they bumped the time for Supernatural up an hour and I was up until 1:00 writing my review. I can't do that! I may have to try your method. :)


The episode should be on the CW today to watch. And you have to see it because it begins with them waking up in the morning and I thought that was hysterical.

Anonymous said...

Incidentally, I am SO looking forward to When the Levee Breaks!

phouse1964 said...

I thought this episode did two things. One obvious - showed the role reversal and how far Sam has come to be so much like John these past couple of years and how Dean is just sad and pissed off. I loved the bitchiness of this episode.

Rock paper scissors ruled!

But I think the other purpose of the episode was to horribly wound Sam so he has to turn to Ruby again. I have not been reading spoilers lately but I think his major loss of blood will be a factor, if nto next week, then in the final two episodes. Just my guess.

I was glad we don't have a new brother. I was 99% sure he was a gonner from the get go although I didn't know he was already dead at the beginning of the show. That was a suprise.I did think it odd he was all gushy about John while his mom was missing. Screamed fishy to me.

I wonder about the photoshopped pics. They were as bad as the ones in What is and What Should Never Be. Do you think they maybe do that on purpse as a lark? Because the ID's they do look really good.

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

Mary, I love your real-time observations. I said the exact same thing about the ear! LOL

How did it move the story forward?Why did it have to? They always have stand-alone episodes. More of them have been mytharc related this season than any in the past, but TV isn't like books where nothing can be self contained. I was REALLY glad to have more relief from the heaviness. Not that this wasn't heavy--it was heavy in a different way.

Any other show, keeping the brother alive would have worked better. This show--absolutely no way. :)

I was spoiled more on this ep than any other, so I was pretty sure Adam would die (they said the actor was only cast for one episode) but I had NO clue it would happen the way it did.

I love the ghouls! You know, we use the word "ghoulish" to describe something very much like a decaying corpse. I imagine them like the hyenas of the supernatural world, and taking on the appearance of their last meal explains the connotation of their name.

I (and others) wondered why Sam didn't use his powers to break out before they sliced him open. I'm assuming he hadn't imbibed for a while and his powers were depleted, so I suspect phouse is right about the blood.

DEFINITELY watch on cwtv.com for the opening--it was awesome!

I loved the whole episode, but thought Jensen was incredible with the emotions, both against and then protective of Adam, and I'm really not liking Sam very much right now.

kaybee said...

Great recap MJ!
This episode really showed how the boys have switched roles and built up more tension that I'm sure is going to come spilling out in the finale.

I was really sad when they showed Adam had already died. I didn't want him tagging along with the boys but it would've been nice to have him be alive in the end. Dean would have been a good big brother to him too. Sam was so cute when he was teaching Adam to shoot and be the big brother for once.

For the fans, it's been obvious since Mystery Spot, I think, that Sam is just like John but it was nice to see Dean acknowledge it. He's finally knocking John from the pedastal he's put him on. Seeing Adam with the normal life and all he was about to give up really made him look at John and Sam in a different light. Him and Sam were bor to be hunters and he's accepted that but he really thought Adam deserved a chance.

Loved the continuity with 'Rock, paper, scissors' :D

And nice to see Badass!Dean again. Finding a way out of the crypt and rescuing Sammy. There's my Dean.

I love Sam but his head is so screwed up right now. He can't see past his revenge and the fighter mentality.

Norah Wilson said...

I'm late to the party again, up here in Canada. It airs on Friday nite and if I miss it, have to wait until Saturday nite. Just finished watching it. The kid was great. It broke my heart that he was dead before the brothers even met him. But having said that, I'm glad he won't be tagging along.

Dean: great acting, again.
Sam: yep; never would have fit in that air vent.

But what had me LOLing was the episode title, like they're poking fun at themselves. It's a TV term. When a show jumps the shark, it's turned a corner, and not a good one. It means that the show that once was great is on a downhill slide to irrelevance.