This Whole Destiny Thing

So it's my turn to do a recap/review, and I figured I'd write something about whatever episode was scheduled for last night. Ha! I already reviewed it. So forget that.

Therefore, I'm going to blather a bit about this whole destiny thing, which is increasingly shown to be the underlying point of season 5.

We've been told since season 2 or 3 that it had to be Sam, it just always had to be Sam. Then, once the angels got involved, it wasn't just Sam, it was Sam and Dean. They're apparently descended from Cain and Abel...hmmm, that must mean, since the bloodline is suited for hosting angels, that Cain and Abel were designed to be vessels. Maybe not, maybe it's just a robust line. :) Anyway, the angels keep saying stuff like they knew that Sam and Dean would host Michael and Lucifer for millennia. Um...I don't think so.

For one thing, if that was true, why didn't Lucifer just tell Azazel to find Sam? He had him test babies, lots of babies. Azazel said he'd been working on his plan for generations (that might be a timeline glitch, if I'm remembering the date in the convent right). If it was always Sam, why bother marking and empowering all those kids, and orchestrating the "big fight"? Why be surprised that it was Jake, but accepting of it?

Then, once Azazel was dead, Ruby had to go through that whole manipulation thing to make sure Sam killed Lilith and broke the final seal, which, by the way, wouldn't have happened if Dean hadn't broken the first seal, which he wasn't supposed to do, it was supposed to be John, but he wouldn't break.

Now, they didn't ever say that Dean being the seal-breaker is connected to being a vessel for Michael, so maybe it's not significant that it was Dean instead of John. And it could be said that only the angels (including Lucifer) had any idea of the goals behind the manipulation, so that Alistair really didn't know what his job was intended to for.

But that brings me to the increasing revelations about the angels. We've seen them manipulate, and how good they are at it. At first, we even thought it was a good thing, when Zachariah convinced Dean to keep hunting. But the angels are working so damned hard to convince Dean, almost as hard as they've been working to orchestrate events (like using cherubs to force Mary and John to fall in love).

We've had three episodes show us, via time travel, that upcoming events are inevitable. But there are discrepancies. In "The End," Zachariah wanted to show Dean why he had to say yes. But in the future he took him to, the angels lost. If there's inevitability, how can that be changed? Then, in "The Song Remains the Same," Anna goes back to try to kill Mary so Sam is never born. The summary of that episode says the angels send her back, but they WANT Sam to be Lucifer's vessel. If Lucifer doesn't take Sam and fight Michael-in-Dean, the angels can't have their paradise.

So if Anna was let out for a purpose, why wasn't she indoctrinated into the destiny propaganda? If it's all planned and unchangeable, why do the angels have to work so hard to make Dean say yes? So it seems pretty clear that "Free Will is a Myth" is just a ploy by the angels. Kudos to them, though, for pushing it with such sincerity.

There are a couple of ways I can see this playing out:

1. Team Free Will Prevails
Big final battle, Sam and Dean never say yes, and together with all the parties they've introduced this season (like the AntiChrist and Gabriel), they defeat Lucifer AND the angels in their own way.

2. Team Destiny is Right
But only to a point. Sam and Dean say yes, and get vesselized, but with their own agenda and to their own ends, and they defeat Lucifer and Michael from within.

3. All the Teams Break Up and Reform in New and Exciting Ways
AKA, the Big Twisty Plot concept, where the writers in the room are far smarter together than any of us are individually, and they come up with some big awesome alternate scenario.

This post is brought to you by my frustration and annoyance every time someone says "Because it had to be you, Sam. It always had to be you."

So where do YOU stand on the whole destiny thing?

~~~~
All photos copyright The CW

There should be a Supernatural Super-Park

During the Olympics, they keep showing commercials for a new Harry Potter themed attraction in Orlando and this week I got flyers from Six Flags in the mail saying that they've started selling Season Passes for 2010, so I've had Amusement Parks on the brain. And I've totally decided that there could be a Supernatural theme park (forget Orlando. I'm thinking Salem or Kansas or atmospheric Savannah).

The food would all be tacky diner style (which, have you BEEN to a theme park lately? Nothing tackier than an eight-dollar grease burger). There would definitely be a funhouse of mirrors (patrons are advised not to utter Bloody Mary, however, or security will escort you from the premises.) There would be stunt shows and limited karaoke (selections from AC/DC, Metallica, and Def Leppard). Definitely no clowns, though--dude, they kill.

For the kiddies, there's the mild ride of driving mini black Impalas around a closed course. For the more adventurous, there's the Trickster Coaster, where parts of the roller coaster are in the dark and you're not sure where you're going and sometimes the coaster suddenly changes direction and zooms backward, with the track ahead being nothing more than an illusion. Don't even get me started on the haunted house.

Gift shops would sell small bags of salt, Latin dictionaries, plastic bugs and replicas of Dean's pendant. The midway challenges would include throwing a ball to see how many Reapers you can knock down and the arcade would feature a virtual reality "Demon Hunting with Bobby" game.

It could work, don't you think? All I need are a couple hundred Sam and Dean lookalikes to staff the place and we are in business!

SPNews

The big news hit last week with official confirmation of season 6 and Eric Kripke (along with his co-runner Robert Singer) stepping down as the showrunner. However, we trust the show is in great hands with exec producer/writer Sera Gamble and, thankfully, both Kripke and Singer have stated they’ll still be involved.

So what does this mean for a post-apocalypse SPN? Well, according to an interview Buddy TV did with the writers, season 6 “won’t have the scope” of this season. Instead Sera says, “You just turn left and go a whole other direction. The show has never really been about God and the angels and demons, it's a show about Sam and Dean." She further added, "There has always been a deep well to jump into in the boys' relationship...We have the opportunity to go back from the epic to a more intimate story." The idea is to go back to more stand-alones and Ben Edlund for one, is happy he can be “be funny again.”

The next natural question is this…if they’re going back to the basics, where does that leave Castiel? According to E’s Kristin, Misha only has a contract through season 5, but sources close to the show are “hopeful” he’ll be asked to stay on.

And finally, according to Vegas News Jared was spotted at LAVO celebrating his bachelor party. He’s supposed to marry costar Genevieve Cortese next week in Idaho. (Darnnit couldn't find any pics of the party!)

Yet Another Top Ten List

So I thought I'd get an episode to review, but alas, no. So I'm going to give you another top ten list, this time of favorite words or phrases from Supernatural, either that came from fandom or from the show, that you find yourself using and sound like Sam and Dean.

10) "What a douche." Sadly, this is my new saying. Shame on me. I sound like a 20-something boy :)

9) "Awkward!"

8) "I'm Batman." :)

7) "Salt and burn." Though they're not saying this one enough this season. Guess they're busy with that whole apocalypse thing.

6) "PUDDING!"

5) "I'm gonna get me some pie." Only you have to say "pie" just like Dean. I say this and I don't even like pie.

4) "Rockin' the hat." Okay, maybe you said it before but I didn't.

3) "Bitch." Helps if the other person says, "Jerk."

2) "Buckets of crazy"--which is how I'm describing my life these days

1) "DUDE!"

What things from Supernatural do you find yourself saying?

THIS JUST IN

This just in: Supernatural has been renewed for a sixth season!  Woo hooo!

*runs off to tell everyone*

ETA:
Well, damn, I was afraid of this. To sum up without all the drama: Eric Kripke is handing over showrunning duties to Sera Gamble, but he and Robert Singer will remain hands-on executive producers.

I don't know, that doesn't seem like much of a change to me. :)

SPN News for Start of Final, Interminable Hiatus

Boy, I lucked out this week with news to link you to! Also thanks to MJ (again!) for some of these. She's great at finding the stuff my Google alerts miss. :)

Late Addition: Ausiello at EW has posted his "bubble list" of TV shows and likelihood for (or status of) renewal. He considers Supernatural a sure thing. Yay!

First up: Kevin Parks, who was Supernatural's first AD for 21 episodes, is riding in The Ride to Conquer Cancer for the BC Cancer Foundation, in honor of director Kim Manners.

The Feb. 12/19 '10 issue of Entertainment Weekly contained mention of Jeffrey Dean Morgan in an article about movie actors doing TV. JDM fans will be thrilled to hear he has 5 (FIVE!) movies expected to release in 2010.

In casting news, former EastEnders actor Adam Croasdell will play Baldur. I'll minimize spoilers and let you Google it to see who that is. I'm very intrigued. :)

This article talks about the upcoming 100th episode. I'd seen pictures of the party, but this was the first write-up I read that mentioned that episode is scheduled to air April 15th.

Related: Dawn Ostroff was interviewed at a 100th-episode event in a non-spoilery video about the show and its run so far. There's also a video with Jim Beaver in this archive. And the TV Addict had some pics and a video. Check out that fourth pic. OMG, they are HUGE! LOL

A new interview with Chad Lindberg was posted last week. I didn't read it because it's spoilery! :)

Misha Collins also did an interview posted last week. It's UK-based, and they just started season 5 over there, so it maybe a lot of what we've already seen/heard. But it's Misha! :)

Do you subscribe to Supernatural magazine? If not, here's a taste of what you're missing: an excerpt from an interview with Jared and Jensen.

Watch with Kristin at E!Online held another CW Awards because they never get any love at the "real" awards. :) Supernatural made a very poor showing. Stoopid vampires.

Unfounded rumors persist in connecting Jensen Ackles to the upcoming Captain America movie (now they're saying he's one of the recent auditionees), but the LA Times gives us a definite casting note. Jensen Ackles joins Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Isaacs, and Bruce Greenwood as the voice of Red Hood in "Batman: Under the Red Hood" to be released on DVD. Additional commentary on the casting can be found here.

E!Online gossip columnist Ted Casablanca talks about wedding dates for the show's stars. Sharing the link dispite my dislike of being lumped in with the...um...less level-headed fans. :) Ted follows that up with this video with Daneel Harris. It's fluffy, but she's adorable, and talks about Valentine's plans with Jensen.

Check out 2thedeuce.com's "Battle of the Network Hotties". In round 1, all the SPN guys won their competitions (though two were losing when I first saw it!). That link should take you to round 2.

And that will do it for this week!

"My Bloody Valentine" or ew, Ew, EW!

Okay, so y'all know how squeamish I am? I'm supposed to recap, yet I'm now too traumatized for words.

Where to start... Definitely not with that beginning. When two adorable lovebirds, as Dean later puts it "eat each other too death." With gusto. Um, the title of the episode is funny anyway.

Shortly after the, er, hungry couple, we meet a devoted Jim at the office and his tearful, needy girlfriend. Who--kind of hilariously--blows away the cyncial co-worker who makes the "whipped" sound (I've always hated that.) Jim and girlfriend, now worried that prison might keep them apart, perpetrate a suicide pact to stay together for eternity.

And now a morgue where Sam and Dean are investigating internal organs--MY EYES! Seriously, this ep made me nostaglic for the days of radio shows. But admid the organs, Sam finds suspcious marking (specifically Angelic Marks) that leads to Dean calling Cass. Funny interaction where Cass shows up about an inch from Dean and says awkwardly, into his phone, "I'm hanging up now." Cass explains they're looking for a rogue Cupid (that would be a cherub, third class). Dean: "Cupid?" Like the guy with arrows and a diaper? Cass gives one of his classically dry deliveries and explains that Cupid isn't incontinent. Have I mentioned how much I love Cass?

The three guys track down a Cupid, who manifests as a chubby, jolly shirtless guy who lifts Dean off his feet. We cut to commercial and I try to summon up the nerve to watch more. (Meanwhile, an ad for Shutter Island grosses me out.)

Okay, continuing to watch totally pays off for me. After commercial, we see see that Cupid is not so much attacking Dean as hugging him (and Cupid also appears to be...pantsless). Then he hugs the heck out of Cass and advances on a horrified looking Sam. Dean asks, confused, "Is this a fight? Are we in a fight? I don't like it." Cass: "No one likes it." They accuse Cupid of murdering his targets (or causing them to murder each other) and the rest of this scene, OMG, you just have to see for yourself. Freaking hysterical. But they do hear the revelation that John and Mary Winchester were a heaven-ordered, Cupid precipitated match specifically so that Sam and Dean were born.


Annnnnnd we're back in the morgue and I am scared and watching through my fingers. I'll spare you the details except to say guy on the slab died for love of Twinkies.

After the morgue, Sam once again sees a suspicious guy in a black suit who brings to mind a Reaper. Sam attacks him in an alley with The Knife and is entirely too excited by the sight of the guy's blood. At this point, "ew" is just getting redundant. But the cut demon gets away, leaving behind a suitcase. Dean: "Let's crack it open. What's the worst that could happen?" Oh, DEAN, have you not seen your show?

An explosion of light follows. Cass, who has apparently developed a fondness for burgers, tells the boys that there was a soul in the suitcase and that the town is suffering from "Famine." Hunger for food, hunger for affection, hunger for... You name it. This horseman, btw, rides a black steed--a wheel chair, rather than a sports car. The horseman is a frail old man hungering for souls of his victims. Then follows a gross cafe scene that should help me lose weight. This entire episode is good for that; even Dean lost his appetite earlier.

Deprived of the human soul he was supposed to get, Famine just eats the demon Sam slashed in the alley. And I'm guessing Sam's hunger for demon blood will become a plot point again before the ep is over. Speaking of which...Sam is sweating in front of a mirror and becoming more agitated. Dean wants to know if Famine can be defeated by slicing off his ring, as they did with War. Meanwhile, Sam's having DTs in the corner. Where's the nearest weekly meeting of Demon Blood Anonymous when you need one? Dude, call your sponsor! (Which reminds me, where the heck has Bobby been?) Cass declares Sam infected and Dean prepares to go ring-hunting without his bro, after handcuffing Sam to the hotel plumbing (which I can easily imagine getting ripped out of the wall soon).

Yet another trip to the morgue, only this time the doc in charge of the lab is the one on the slab, after drinking himself to death. Cass says that the doctor's soul hasn't been harvested yet and could be their path to Famine. Meanwhile, Cass continues to scarf down burgers, reminding me a little of when I was pregnant in my eighth month and couldn't get enough avocado. Cass wants to know where Dean's hunger is, and Dean maintains he doesn't have repressed appetites because he eats when he wants, gets laid when he wants, etc. But little bro Sam? Seriously repressed appetite. The demons come in and free him. He stabs one in the neck and goes to town. Gross. But it does bring back his powerful mojo.

Dean and Burger Boy track down famine at the Cafe Del Grossness but the plan to cut the ring off goes awry when Cass gets sidetracked by red meat. Dean is caught and dragged to Famine who says that Dean is a void, completely broken and defeated with no hunger left for anything. "Inside, you're already dead." They're interupted by a bloody-faced, Dark Side Sam. Famine, wanting to bring Sam closer to Lucifer, happily invites him to chow down on all the demons in the room. Sam peforms a mass exorcism thingy that leaves Dean wide-eyed and freaked, then Sam tells Famine, "No." Yay! Sam may earn that sobriety token after all.

Famine then eats the demon spirit thingies, and Sam basically kills all the spirits he ate. (Okay, I took lots of writing and communications classes for my degree and have written lots of stuff in the last ten years of being published, yet never did I think I'd type a sentence like that last one.)

Unfortunately, Sam has to go through another painful detox that is hellish for Dean to hear (he copes by swigging straight from a whiskey bottle, then finally leaving to go hang out at the Impala). He cries, then prays for help. I cry along with him. And we go to black screen. Dude. Harsh.

Scenes for next episode. The good news? Bobby! The bad news? March freaking 25th.

And in closing, a little public service announcement. This Valentine's Day, it may be okay to do some harmless, playful nibbling. However, it is never okay to gnaw your valentine to death.

Stupid Cupid

This week on Supernatural, the Winchester's fear Cupid has gone rogue after townspeople start killing each other for love. Doesn't sound like the cherubic little archer we know as Valentine's mascot, does it? Then again, mythology tells us Cupid wasn't as sweet as he's currently depicted. Here's a few facts on the God of Love.

♥ Cupid in Latin (cupido) means "desire."

♥ Some myths say he was born from a silver egg.

♥ In ancient Greece he was called Eros, the son of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.

♥ In Roman mythology he was called Amor and was the son of Venus and Mercury.

♥ Cupid’s himself fell in love with Psyche. His mother, Venus, was jealous of the human’s beauty and ordered Cupid to punish her. Instead he fell in love and married her, but as a mortal she was forbidden to look at him. Eventually the Gods were impressed with Psyche’s love for Cupid and transformed her into a Goddess.

♥Cupid is known to carry two sets of arrows—gold-headed for love and lead-headed for hatred.

♥ Cupid had a cruel streak. He would often create unrequited love matches for his own amusement.

♥ However, the real cruelty may have come from whoever decided to dress him in a diaper?

News February 8

Sorry, I just loved this scene SO much. Happy John and Mary...sigh.

Besides, I needed something to ease you as I deliver the bad news. After Thursday's show, Supernatural will be on hiatus for SIX WEEKS! All together now...WAHHHHHH!!!! The dh pointed out that most shows will be on break during the Olympics but still. WAHHHHH!

According to Jim Beaver's Tweets, shooting continues until the end of March. He will return in episode 15, then episode 18. Also, he's confirmed for SPN conventions in LA, Rome, Australia, Birmingham, and Germany.

The Chicago Tribune has an interesting comparison between Lost and Supernatural.

The show recently celebrated their 100th episode and are being considered for a sixth season.

ETA: Supernatural made TVGuide.com's Top Ten Moments of the Week.

Trish and I saw Legion when she was here last week and we were both, "Meh." Anyone else see it? What did you think?

"The Song Remains the Same"

The "Then" clips at the beginning of this episode gave us a look back at the episode where Castiel sends Dean back to see his parents when they were young, where he finds out his mother and her family were hunters and that she made a deal with the Yellow-Eyed Demon to save John. We also see some angel scenes with Castiel and Anna.

The "Now" section starts with Warrant's "Cherry Pie" playing and Dean saying, "I take it all back. I love the devil." Of course, the devil he's talking about is an exotic dancer dressed like a she-devil. But then she's joined by another dancer dressed like an angel. When the two girls step apart, there stands Anna. She's in his dream and tells Dean she can't find him. He mentions the thing Cas did so that he and Sam are invisible to angels. Anna responds, "Cas. There's a friend you can count on." She reveals that she's been in prison "upstairs" where there's "All the torture, twice the self-righteousness." She's not happy with Cas, who turned her in, saying he was always the "good little soldier." She tells Dean that she's broken out and to meet her at 225 Industrial, and to hurry. At that, Dean wakes.

Next we see Anna in an old building, and Cas shows up. He tells her that he wouldn't let Sam and Dean meet her and that if she's out of prison, it's because she was let out to do the angels' dirty work. Cas admits that it was a mistake to turn Anna in but he doesn't trust her sudden reappearance. When he questions her, she says that Sam has to die because he's Lucifer's vessel. Cas says they'll find another way, to which Anna points out that that plan isn't going so well. He tells Anna that he'll kill her if she comes near Sam.

Next, we see Anna fall on top of a sports car where a young couple is sitting. When they jump out to help her, we see a large Grease poster on the side of a building. Oh crap, I think she's just time traveled and I see where this is going.

Cas, back in the always-present crappy motel room with Sam and Dean, tells them of Anna's plan. When he performs a ritual to find her, he discovers she's in 1978. Cas figures out that Anna is going to kill John and Mary so that Sam can never be born. There's a bit of a funny moment when Dean makes a Back to the Future reference and Cas gives him a look and says, "I don't understand that reference." Against his better judgment, Cas takes Sam and Dean back in time with him. When they arrive, Sam and Dean are okay but Cas is coughing up blood. Dean checks Cas into the 1978 version of a crappy motel. When Sam asks if he'll be okay, Dean responds that Cas is "tough for a little nerdy dude with wings."

Sam is a bit freaked out at meeting his parents, especially his mom. But Mary is not thrilled to see them because she's left the hunter life behind. While she tries to convince them to leave, John gets a call from his boss, only it's Anna trying to lure him to work so she can kill him. When John gets to work, he finds his boss dead and Anna waiting for him. When the others arrive, big fight ensues. While Anna is distracted, Sam does that blood symbol on the wall thing to banish Anna. When John and Mary make eye contact, she knows her past has caught up with her. They all flee and go to an old house that has been in Mary's family for years and make preparations in case Anna shows up again.

It's odd, and so un-John-like, when young John expresses his disgust that anyone would raise their kids in the hunting life. Sam tells him that he used to be mad at his dad, but now he understands that he was doing the best he could in an impossible situation, that his dad might have gone crazy after Sam's mom's death if he didn't do something. Sam has a catharsis moment by telling this young version of his father that he understands and that he forgives him, that he loves him.

Anna calls Uriel and tells him that she needs him to kill some humans, humans who will kill him in the future.

When Mary asks Dean what is going on, he reveals that he's her son and starts telling her some of the future. He tells her what day she dies and tells her to take Sam and run that morning. Sam comes in during this conversation and says it won't work, that the demon will find her and baby Sam wherever she goes. He tells his mother that she has to leave John so that Sam and Dean are never born. Mary says she can't because she's already pregnant. John walks in and says that the symbols he drew are gone, and Mary discovered the holy oil is gone as well. Next comes the angel scream and the blowing out of windows. Another big fight ensues, in which Anna stabs Sam. A light appears on John, who has been tossed outside, and when he comes back in, the archangel Michael is inhabiting his body. He touches Anna and she goes up in flames.

Michael reveals to Dean that his being Michael's true vessel is in the bloodline, one that stretches back to Cain and Abel. In a true Dean moment, he says, "Awesome. Seven degrees of Heaven Bacon." Michael tells Dean that free will is an illusion, that every choice Dean makes brings him closer to his destiny, the plan that is playing itself out perfectly. He tells Dean that he is going to scrub John and Mary's minds, and the look on Dean's face is heartbreaking when he realizes his mom will still walk into Sam's nursery and still be killed by the Yellow-Eyed Demon. I did think that Michael's "You can't fight city hall" was a bit of an odd response. And then he heals Sam and sends him back to 2010, followed by Dean, who has an incredible look of "It's all for nothing" on his face.

Sam and Dean are back in the hotel when Castiel shows back up, looking worse for wear, surprised that he made it. Dean says he needs a drink, and Sam agrees. Dean looks at the three of them and dubs them Team Free Will -- "one ex blood junkie, one dropout with six bucks to his name, and Mr. Comatose over there. Awesome." Sam worries that the two of them will eventually say yes to being Lucifer's and Michael's vessels.

Next we see Mary, very pregnant, and John in the nursery, and Mary is happy about a 25-cent cherub she got at a garage sale and placed next to the crib. She tells the baby she's carrying that "angels are watching over you."

I was curious about the title of the episode, so I looked it up. It's the name of a concert film done by Led Zepplin in 1976 which includes each band member's personal fantasies (ties in with Dean's dream of exotic dancers and Sam getting to see his mother, and both of them wishing they could save their parents).

Convention Dreams

I had a great idea for a topic for today. Did I write it down? No. Do I remember it? Not a chance. I nearly forgot to post...twice. So pleeeaaassseee forgive me if this post is, well, kinda lame.

Creation Entertainment is doing a Salute to Supernatural in New Jersey again this year. My friends and I held off on committing to it at first, because Jared and Jensen aren't booked. Two months after they first opened to ticket sales, we can probably safely stop hoping. My theory is that the Js won't commit because it's not selling out, and it's not selling out because the Js won't commit. Northeasterners are practical and frugal, you know.

So we gambled and bought tickets and are only three rows back from the stage. I'm bringing Number One (my daughter), so it will be a fun trip no matter what. But we want it to be the MOST fun we can have without our heads exploding (aka "meeting Jared and Jensen").

So far, they have the following people attending:

AJ Buckley and Travis Wester, the Ghostfacers
Misha Collins and Richard Speight Jr., the Ones We Really Wanted to Come
Alona Tal (Jo)
ETA:This morning when I went to the website, I saw that Rob Benedict, who plays Chuck, has been added. (It was NOT there when I wrote this, even though it says it was updated Feb. 1. :) )

If we can't get the Js, they'd better pack the ticket with good people. Jim Beaver and Todd Stashwick would be great to see again, as would Gabe Tigerman, and I really, really want Jason Manns for the musical entertainment. But who else?

I won't start listing potential guest stars they could invite. I want to hear who YOU'D want to meet! Out of all the people associated with Supernatural, who's worth a weekend getaway?

Personally, I wish they'd book a writer or two. Now, THEM, I'd have questions for!

How about you?