Supernatural's "Party on, Garth" and SQUEE Surprise!!!

THEN

Wow, I feel stupid. I never connected DJ Quall's awesome Garth with the "how are you still alive" hunter from "Weekend at Bobby's." Man, I love seeing Bobby, even in flashback.

NOW

This campfire thing reminds me a little of "Wendigo" even though they didn't do campfire ghost stories. (Coincidentally, That Haley Girl from "Wendigo" was on tonight's episode of Fringe!)

Anyone who saw the previews knows what's coming. Wasted Trevor sees/hears something in the woods. He runs off, and when his brother goes after him, he finds a gruesome scene. Nice touch with the down from his vest floating around.

Oh, yeah, Garth appears to Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison," which somehow fits him very well. He approaches two of the women from the campfire, who dis him until he throws his badge and gets amusingly sudden respect. I love when dorks rule! They tell Garth about the real Jenny Greentree. He salts and burns her: "You've been Garthed." Bell Biv Devoe come back, while Garth hits himself in the face with his jacket when he tosses it over his shoulder, and the small grave fire gets bigger and bigger. Love it!

Trevor's brother is getting drunk in the woods now. You don't have to have seen the preview to know something bad is going to happen. Do you think he has salt rounds in his shotgun? Oh, wait, I think that's a rifle. He's "hunting" his brother's killer, but he gets hunted.

Garth "hearts you more"--Number One (my oldest daughter) thinks he was talking to Becky. What do you think? Garth hears about Trevor's brother and is angry. "I Garthed her!"

Finally, we get to Sam and Dean. Dean's getting an update from the bitch Meg. Apparently, Cas is still catatonic or something close. Dean asks Sam how his custard is. Sam says it's getting better, but he feels guilty for passing on the crazy. Dean's phone interrupts him, and it's Garth. How did I know Dean wouldn't remember him right away?

Fed Dean and Fed Sam show up at the morgue, and Corporal Brown--James Brown, ha!--is there to pay respects to his cousin, but clearly doesn't know the victims were brothers. An exasperated Sam takes over, checking the files and doing quick research. Dean asks if he's allergic to a suit, but Garth just looks good in a uniform. Doesn't everyone?

Dean gets EMF when Garth hadn't, but the details point to monster chow rather than ghost. A witness says it was invisible, so Dean goes with invisible ghost werewolf. Sam finds Thighslapper Ale (beverage for douchebags), and the owner is the father to the dead brothers. Dean assures Sam that Garth grows on ya. (He does, Sam! Give him a chance!)

The manager of the brewery is the sister. The place is run by two guys, with a third partner recently dead. I'm going to quickly encapsulate the storyline here so I can get to the good stuff. Sam, Dean, and Garth trace clues and family intricacies to learn that:

Three partners in the business, two want to sell to a giant distributor, one doesn't, he committed suicide a couple of months ago. But he gave them a gift "that would show them I forgive them," a saki bottle from Japan containing an alcohol spirit that was programmed to go after the kids of the ousting partners. I don't know why it kills the wife/mother instead of the little girl who accidentally drank from her mother's screwdriver, but probably they had the girl witness the trauma instead of dying herself because they know my husband's rule about quitting shows that do harm to kids.

I love that Sam and Dean consult, what, a sushi chef? He reads the curse on the box (and Dean very nicely pays him for his time) and later helps Dean bless a samurai sword with spring water poured from a plastic bottle. Dirty, but it works! Garth, who's not as hapless as he seems, figures out that Ray's son is the company janitor. He also saves Sam and Dean by tazing Ray when he discovers Sam and Dean drunk in the office, watching security footage of the spirit being set free.

Garth goes to the company (drunk on mini bar bottles) and sees the spirit stalking the unrecognized son. Sam, who's been getting drunk while watching out for the older sister, has to take a cab to the company. Dean meets them there with the sword, but he's the only one sober enough to fight the thing, but too sober to see it. (Sam to Dean when they got drunk in the office: "Can you even get drunk anymore? It's kind of like drinking a vitamin." Another good line: Drunk Sam saying the spirit followed the kid to the place with all the thingies. Dean thought that was smart. I love drunk Dean!)

Garth gets drunk on one bottle of beer. "Party on Garth." He doesn't usually drink beer because it messes with his depth perception, especially when he skinny dips. LOL He gets the young daughter's story out of her with a sock puppet, Mr. Fizzles. He also figures out that Bobby's old flask set off the EMF meter.

And that's the stuff that's REALLY good. Garth thinks Bobby might be haunting them. Sam admits that after the beer disappeared, he used a talking board to try to contact Bobby. It didn't work, or he'd have told Dean. But during the battle, the spirit throws Garth through a wall (again) and Sam against a wall (knocking him out) and knocks the sword from Dean's hand. Dean's a bit desperate, with Sam knocked out, the kid useless, and the sword five feet away...until it slides across the floor, right into his hand.

Dean's convinced now. He thinks he's alone and begs Bobby to do something. God, Jenson does tortured well. Sam, however, still needs a haircut. I mean, Sam hears Dean, but nothing happens. Later, after they say goodbye to Garth (I love the hugs...and the music!), we have this huge buildup of anticipation as Sam confronts Dean about the Bobby thing. Dean tries to blow it off, calling it his imagination, but Sam pushes. Dean catalogs the sword, the beer, the page, the book. But Sam thinks regular people see people they've lost all the time, too. They're actually close to normal.

I'm dying here!

Dean says "who knows more about being a ghost than Bobby?" Of course Bobby would let them know. They leave the motel room...come on come on come on...the camera pans over...

BOBBBYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

Dean goes back inside, and kills us by glancing around, landing his eyes on something, and saying "there you are." Bobby thinks he sees him, but Dean just came back for the flask.

"I'm right here, ya idjit!" A gray-looking, heartbroken Bobby ends with "Balls!"

GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

But OMG, that preview! I can't believe we have to wait three more friggin' weeks!

I love being unspoiled. I don't know if there were hints in any of the interviews I avoided, but I had no clue he'd actually show up and prove right those of us who called "he chose to stay" from the last fadeout on "Death's Door."

As a classic episode, I liked this one. I like Garth (which means we'll get three episodes with him next season and then he'll die) and the new spirit and the down-and-dirty blessing ritual and even the way figuring out what was happening was kind of like an episode of Castle or something, with all the family intrigues and unseen connections.

But as a Bobby reveal, it was even better. I made some strangled screaming noises when it happened. I think my family was ready to perform CPR on me (or make me Cas's roommate).

After this next hiatus, we should get the last five episodes all in a row. Which is nice, but it makes me sad that it's almost over when it feels like it just started.

What did you think?

The Born-Again Identity

So, Sam’s hallucinating again, bad. He’s been up 5 days straight and runs into a junkie who offers to knock him out, while Satan taunts him. I bet Jared is really going to look like that now that he has a newborn. I do think Mark P is having fun with this role. Sam is running away from Satan and gets hit by a car.

He’s admitted for broken ribs and lacerations, but he’s been admitted to the psych ward. The doctor believes he’s having a psychotic episode. They’ve pumped him full of sedatives and he still won’t sleep. (Oh, hey, Misha’s going to be in this episode! Interested to see how THAT will come out.)

Lucifer is keeping him company when Dean walks in and suggests a faith healer. Also, what kind of creepy hospital is this? The headboard is all rusty and scraped up. Sam sends him on his way, but Dean uses Bobby’s list of contacts (would Bobby have a list of contacts?) to look for help for Sam.

(While Lucifer reads a diagnostic textbooks and comments about having narcissistic personality disorder...) Sam takes his meds, and Dean gives up making calls. He tosses the address book on the table, but when he looks again it’s on the floor, and there’s a business card beneath. Dean calls and leaves a message.

Sam’s hallucinating that the doctor is Lucifer, that there are maggots in his sandwich, etc. Some redheaded chick appears in his open doorway, and he’s probably hallucinating again. Dean gets a call back. The hunter said he set every trap for a faith healer but he passed every one. He tells Dean this guy is the real deal.

The redhead is back and brings Sam a candy, and why is his door open? Dean goes to find Emmanuel the faith healer and catches sight of a bound and gagged woman through the window. The man claiming to be Emmanuel flashes black eyes and tells Dean whoever Emmanuel is, Crowley’s going to want him. Dean stabs him and he rolls down the stairs to land at Castiel’s feet.

Dean is freaked as Emmanuel/Castiel unties the girl. Emmanuel introduces himself to Dean and introduces the woman as his wife. Emmanuel doesn’t know about demons on the earth. Dean is still freaked but not hesitant about asking for help.

On the way to Sam, Emmanuel tells about how he wandered into his wife Daphne’s path drenched and confused and naked, and she took care of him.

“Who named you Emmanuel?” Dean asked.

“Bouncingbabynames.com.”

Dean comments it must be hard to not know who you are, if you’re a bad person or not. Emmanuel says he doesn’t feel like a bad person.

Sam makes friends with the redhead who is depressed and wants to die. She asks why he’s there, if it’s because voices in his head. She admits to Sam that her dead brother is the voice in her head, telling her to kill herself or he’d do it for her.

Dean leaves Cass in the car while he goes into the convenience store, and a demon follows him--wait, 2 more. Dean kills the first with the magic knife, and another demon is killed by a knife through the back. Meg’s back! Though, seriously, I miss that little blonde. They team up.

The little redhead tells Sam he needs sleep or his hair and nails will fall out. This cracks up Lucifer. She tells Sam she feels cold when she feels her brother coming. Her brother set the room on fire and she barely got out. Sam tells her that her brother is a ghost, but he’s been cremated. She has a bracelet he made that he bled on, and Sam asks for a lighter.

Okay, shouldn’t an episode with Cass and Meg being back be a little more exciting? Maybe I’m just underwhelmed after seeing Hunger Games, but.....yawn. I don't like this actress, I guess, and Dean is so INTENSE and Cass is old-humorless Cass, which was fine when Dean had humor.

So Sam sets the bracelet on fire and the girl’s brother disappears and the men in white coats tie him down. They’re talking about a surgical solution to Sam’s problem so he doesn’t overdose. Lucifer asks hopefully if they’re considering a lobotomy but...no.

Maybe it’s that it’s so choppy--a bit of Sam, a bit of Dean...

Meg spills the beans about Cass being an angel and that he can smite every demon, but he doesn’t remember how. Still, he walks down to the demons outside the hospital where Sam is kept and smites them. As he does, he remembers more and more about who he is. He remembers everything and is pissed at Dean for not telling him who he is and what he’s done.

Oh, hey, shock treatment for Sam from a demon-nurse, while Dean tries to convince Cass to come help. Cass is suffering from guilt over what he did. He deserved to die, so why did he walk out of the water? Dean says to fix it, and pulls Cass’s bloody trench coat out of the trunk. He touches Sam, saying he’s here to make it right, but Sam can’t believe Cass is real.

Whatever Cass did, didn’t work. Sam is listening to Lucifer read him The Three Little Pigs. There’s nothing left of the wall--it’s completely crumbled. He can’t fix it, but maybe he can shift it. He places a hand on Sam’s head and both start glowing red. Now CASS is hallucinating Lucifer and staying in the psych ward. They can’t protect him so they’re leaving him there.

Sam doesn’t like making a deal with Meg, but Dean says it’s not making a deal, it’s mutually assured destruction. Besides, they don’t have any friends, all their friends are dead.

So please tell me you found this episode more compelling than I did. At least Sam’s not hallucinating anymore.

Have we Talked about Felicia Day?

Before the Google alerts filled up with "It's a Boy!" links, they were full of "Geek Cred" stories about Felicia Day's upcoming appearance on the show.

Many of of, of course, love Felicia for many reasons. Buffy. Dr. Horrible. Dollhouse. Eureka. The Guild. Dragon Age. Some of us also love her because she's a reader of popular fiction and loves to tweet about books. :)

Felicia is reported to be playing a hacker named Charlie in the awesomely named episode "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo."

Thoughts?

It's a boy!

Congrats to Jared and Gen! Jared announced the big news last night on Twitter. We know that's going to be one beautiful baby and we can't wait to see a picture.

What I Loved About "Out with the Old" (and the little bit I didn't)

I've had a long, tiring day and my laptop battery only gives me about half an hour now, so instead of a long, detail-by-detail recap of this week's episode, I'm going to give you my thoughts as I watch it a second time. Spoiler alert: I was completely delighted.

During the opening sequence with the ballerina literally dancing her feet off, I wondered if the shoes were cursed or if the janitor was responsible (yes, despite the curse boxes in the "THEN" section). Nice parallelism with the mop, though.

Delight number one: Sam and Dean talking openly. Sam's not trying to hide his Lucifer hallucinations from his brother!!! Dean's not trying to father Sam about it!!! This is (one of) what we've been craving for six years!

Oh, backing up a little, I love Frank and Dean's banter. Frank is hilarious. We're getting a nice, quick overview of just how big Dick's reach is, even if nothing makes much sense.

Opposite of delight number one: Isn't this girl a little old to be completely unaware of the absolute creepiness of shoes showing up where they're not supposed to be and then adjusting themselves to her size? Okay, they cast her well--she has the build and moves of a dancer. BUT IT'S CREEPY.

My husband would not watch this episode if they didn't save the girl. I kept expecting someone to walk in and think they were attacking her. Phew that they just saved her, after poor Dean getting kicked in the face a few times. I thought the actress probably had a lot of fun with that scene, but I might have been projecting.

OMG, when they wanted to put the shoes on! "Do they...look like they're your...size?" "Shut up." "Are you..." "Getting the urge to French Siegfried myself into oblivion?"

I thought Joyce and George were awesome. A little cliche with the door thing, but as awful as the Leviathans are, they're FUN.

Oh, oops, we're not supposed to know they're Leviathans yet.

Hey, Scott Freeman is my husband's cousin! Sam and Dean are seeming a bit impatient with the whole flashing-the-FBI-badge routine. Like they think they shouldn't have to bother, that everyone should just see them as feds and do their bidding.

OMG, the scene with the knives was a total throwback to the scary first season. I expected, of course, knives chopping up fingers. Instead, I channeled Tanya and hid my face while the woman boiled herself to death with the cool ornate teapot.

I kept feeling like Scott's mom had to be more important. She had this safe full of curse boxes full of cursed objects. But she's the Macguffin? I don't actually understand what that is, so maybe not.

Sam. Dude. Get a haircut. Please.

They don't even show a hint of dismay at the dead body. I mean, why would they, after seven years? But usually there's some emotion at not getting there in time to save a life. When Sam called it in, I was a little eye-rolly that he wasn't prepared with a response when they asked his name. How many times have you done this, Sam? But I guess I should give him a pass for not having slept in, oh, six weeks. And "Bruce Hornsby" was funny.

So who's next on the list? A gramophone sold to Brenda Gluck and a vintage gentleman's magazine sold to Peter Yanket. Okay, immature and ridiculous, but also very funny.

Uh, oh, another kid thing. He's totally gonna kill his mom. Yet another threat to my husband watching this with me tomorrow. They brought it right down to the wire. Good thing Sam didn't knock! "Kid. This would be a really good time for a lesson in gratitude. Lucky for you, I'm too tired." Interesting that these two aren't more upset about Sam coming in here. Why do they seem to understand exactly what happened and aren't all freaked out?

Wow, I can't believe we're only 20 minutes into the episode. It took Sam WAY too long to get across town. I expected something to have happened to him with the gramophone. In the meantime, Dean's getting clues and is actually pretty into this, more than just "avenge Bobby" and stuff. I guess he listened to Elliot Ness.

I was a little shocked when Joyce turned into the hardware guy. I thought she was killing him with the handshake but then she went all Leviathan. I wasn't sure if George just worked for Mr. Roman and was human or if Leviathans actually have weaklings. I guess they actually have weaklings. Though George had a lot more to him in the long run.

This episode was no "Mystery Spot," but I liked the way all the threads drew together. HATED Sam falling asleep at the wheel (inevitable) and almost doing a head-on with an eighteen wheeler. (Deliberate connection to the end of season 1, or laziness? Given the song they play at the end of the episode, I'm going with deliberate connection. What it means, if anything, I don't know.)

Sam's progression of extreme fatigue brought him logically to the late-night barrista, as did George being sent there by his dictator of a boss ("How about you eat me?" "Don't tempt me." I guess he is a Leviathan!) I loved how George recognized Sam by his voice and seemed simultaneously excited and scared.

"I don't mean to double-dip in your crazy sauce." Ha! I have to remember that one!

"We have a chain of command here, George. You see a Winchester, you don't eat him! You tell me, and *I* eat him!" She's so over-the-top and yet so natural at it.

Frank's sarcasm is awesomeness. That Dean, the King of Sarcasm, never seems to get it is funny.

So Leviathans are Walmarting mom and pop stores in Portland and Lucifer is on a constant "Stairway to Heaven" loop, 50 times and counting. Poor Sam!

I watch Nikita before Supernatural, and Nikita and Michael and Birkhoff and (to a lesser extent) Alex and Sean are almost always one step ahead of their enemies. So it bothered me that Sam and Dean rushed in to save Scott with no preparation and no suspicions, even though they just figured out that Leviathans are operating here and most likely killed Scott's mother.

George doesn't seem thrilled about the idea of being Scott for 30 years. But I was nicely surprised when Joyce was kicking Dean's ass and George seemed about to do the same to Sam but had somehow prepared a bucket of borax and sacrificed himself to it so Sam had time to get the sword and cut off Joyce's head.

"Thank you, I guess." I think everyone Sam and Dean have helped in the last few years could have said it the exact same way. Bye, Scott. Good luck.

Despite the vast history of alliances-with-the-enemy falling apart, I still like the idea of having a Leviathan on their side. Luckily, Sam and Dean aren't so ready to take George at face value. But it's weird, after all the evil stuff we've seen them do, he's so corporate, even talking about the size of the plan.

"Listen to me, you gooey son of a bitch. You're gonna tell us what you're building here, or I'm gonna wash your mouth out with soap." Hee.

Okay, raise your hand if you saw this coming: "It's going to be a research center. This, gentlemen, is where we are going to cure cancer. We're only here to help." What a smug look on his face!

So, wait. That's where they leave it? Sam and Dean believe George? And there's no punchline about not being able to eat you if you're diseased?

And here we are, the very ominous return of "Bad Moon Rising" that transitions them from Oregon to wherever Frank's trailer is, I don't remember. Noooo! Don't kill Frank! He's so awesome! Not Bobby awesome, but awesome.

Well, crap. It looks like they killed Frank.

Guess who's back next week! And he's not the only one!

So what did you think of this episode? My appreciation average tends to be way above that of my fellow Supernatural Sisters here, but am I alone in liking this one a lot? Please share your thoughts!

A Public Service Announcement :-)

As you may know, some of us here at SPN sisters have strong feelings about remaining unspoiled. So we've decided to pass along this (highly entertaining) video from stars of Dexter, True Blood, Walking Dead and more about the epidemic of spoilers and what you, concerned citizen, can do about it.

Enjoy *g*


http://tinyurl.com/spoilertutorial

The Rest of the Season Approaches...

All of the episode titles for the rest of the season have been revealed. Of course, that doesn't mean they're not subject to change, but here's what we have right now:

“Out With The Old” (March 16)

“The Born-Again Identity” (March 23)

“Party On, Garth” (March 30)

“Of Grave Importance” (7.19)

“The Girl With The Dungeons And Dragons Tattoo" (7.20)

“Reading Is Fundamental” (7.21)

“There Will Be Blood” (7.22)

“Get Dick” (7.23/season finale)

I love all the plays-on-words. I have, as usual, been avoiding spoilers, but I've caught some of the returning character/actor buzz. We'll be getting Castiel, Garth (DJ Qualls), and Meg back. Who else would you like to see? I'd love to see the professor who had the dragon-killing blade. And, of course, BOBBY. Do you think they'd be able to keep that one hush-hush? Jim Beaver could be exaggerating the length of the shoot for the AbomSno movie he's doing.

Of course, they could be teasing us with the beer and Greek paper stuff. That would kill me if they were just teasing us.

No word yet on season 8. How many of you think we'll get it?

This Just In! Season Finale News

First, Happy Birthday to Jensen Ackles! He turns 34 today, which suddenly sounds very young to me. That's never happened before. :(

Anyway, as reported by Dread Central, the Supernatural season finale will air Friday, May 18, 2012.

Which is, of course, smack in the middle of my annual writers retreat. It usually is, and I knew it would be (last year being an aberration due to the extra-long Smallville season finale), but it's still kind of a bummer.

On the one hand, I have several fans on retreat with me. We can download the show when it appears on iTunes and watch it together. Yay! On the other hand, I'm not going to be home to watch with my oldest daughter (aka Number One). She hates not having someone to hash out the finale with, and ends up driving my husband insane. This year he'll be in Vegas for work, so that's even worse for her!

What are your season finale plans? Group watching? Live Tweeting? Or are you all "It's season seven. Meh."